A 48-year-old Connecticut teacher, Kristie Ann Kovarcik, pleaded guilty to throwing a 2-year-old in her care into a wall in a violent 2023 incident, among other instances of violence at a Middletown early learning center.
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As reported by The Middletown Press, Kovarcik pleaded guilty in a Middletown Superior Court to a felony count of risk or injury to a child and three counts of misdemeanor second-degree reckless endangerment.
Her sentencing will take place on September 25. It is expected, as per the outlet, for Kovarcik to receive a two-year prison sentence followed by five years of probation. The woman is currently free on a $30,000 bond, awaiting her sentencing.
‘Like A Piece Of Luggage’
According to a release issued by the Middletown Police Department on March 12, 2024, Kovarcik’s case started back on January 12, 2024. At the time, police learned that a teacher had assaulted a 2-year-old child at the Town & Country Early Learning Center.
The release detailed how police reviewed video surveillance showing Kristie Ann Kovarcik, a teacher at the center, picking up the 2-year-old in her care and tossing the minor to the side.
The child’s head hit a wall, and they suffered a minor contusion above their right eye. Simultaneously, the center’s director heard the commotion and pulled up the video feed. Then, she witnessed in horror how Kovarcik threw the defenseless child against a wall.
An arrest warrant obtained by the Greenwich Time stated that the director picked up the crying toddler. Then, she brought the minor to her office. Authorities and the child’s guardian were immediately involved.
The 2-year-old’s guardian described the video footage by saying that Kovarcik had launched the child “like a piece of luggage.”
Police investigators later found other instances of violence toward children. Kovarcik is allegedly seen in video footage shoving a child out of her way back on November 1, 2023. She also allegedly dropped a child to the ground on January 8, 2024.
Kristie Ann Kovarcik turned herself in to the police on February 26, 2024. At the time, she allegedly told police during an interview, “I just kinda lost my cool.”
Kovarcik was subsequently fired from the Middletown early learning center.