March 06, 2017
Source/Upper Darby Police Department
A surveillance camera at the Child of the Future daycare center in Primos captured a worker shoving a four-year-old girl down the steps on Friday afternoon, authorities said.
A Delaware County day care worker has been charged after allegedly shoving a four-year-old girl in her charge down a flight of stairs.
Sarah Gable, 52, of Folcroft, faces simple assault, child endangerment and related charges after surveillance cameras captured her pushing the girl down a set of steps late Friday afternoon at the Child Care of the Future day care center in Primos, according to Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood.
The girl was not seriously injured and has returned to day care, Chitwood said. But he said the girl was lucky.
Chitwood played the surveillance video for the media during a news conference Monday afternoon. It shows a woman knocking the girl down five steps onto a landing, which connects at a right angle to a longer flight of at least a dozen stairs. After the woman lifts the little girl to her feet on the landing, she lifts her head and looks directly into the camera. The video stops at that point.
Friday's incident happened at the Child of the Future daycare center on Secane Avenue in Primos, Delaware County, authorities said.
"You don't throw a child down a flight of steps," Chitwood said, who admitted he was angered by video. "That's common sense."
He noted that Upper Darby is full of day care operations, in just about every neighborhood. Parents should demand their children's day cares have surveillance cameras, Chitwood said.
"Seldom is there a problem," he said, "but the victim is always a child."
Chitwood, applauded the owner of the day care for taking the video to police, said it was his understanding that the woman no longer worked at the facility.
Gable was arraigned on the charges and posted $25,000 unsecured bail, an amount Chitwood said was too low considering the charges. She has a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 16.
