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On October 21, 2025, the Office of Childhood (OOC) received an allegation that Parent A (parent of Child A and Child B and staff member) and Parent C (parent of Child C and staff member) got into a physical fight in front of five small children under the age of 2-years-old at Bethlehem Lutheran Childcare @ Chapel of the Cross. Parent A administered pepper spray to Parent C while the children were in the room. The children had to be removed from the room after the pepper spray was administered. After conducting an investigation, Compliance Inspector (CI) Patrick O'Malley has found this allegation to be substantiated based on the following evidence:
5 CSR 25-300.090 (1)(D), which states: "Hazardous materials such as cleaning supplies, poisonous materials, medicines, alcoholic beverages or hazardous personal care items shall be inaccessible to children and stored to prevent cross-contamination of food and food-related materials."
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5 CSR 25-300.090 (1)(E), which states: "Ammunition, guns, hunting knives, bows and arrows, or other weapons shall not be on the premises unless stored in a locked cabinet or closet."
On October 23, 2025, CI O'Malley conducted an unannounced inspection of the facility. CI O'Malley observed video footage of the incident. The footage is dated October 20, 2025, with a beginning timestamp of 1:45:58 p.m. The footage is in color and does not contain audio. The footage shows Parent A and Parent C standing in the center of the infant classroom with staff Diamond Jernigan standing between them. There is one crib behind them, two cribs to their left, and one child in a bouncer to their right. At 1:46:06, lead staff Arnez Butler enters along the rear wall. Diamond, Parent A, and Parent C move to Arnez, and they stand in a loose group. At 1:47:01, Parent C reaches with her right hand toward Parent A then withdraws. At 1:47:05, Parent A reaches with her left hand toward Parent C, Parent C attempts to grab the extended hand with Parent C's left hand. Parent C turns her head then charges at Parent A while swinging both of her arms at Parent A. Parent C collides with Parent A and both parents punch each other several times. Diamond attempts to physically separate them. At 1:47:17, Parent C pulls away and covers her nose and mouth with her hand. Diamond waves her hand in front of her face. At 1:47:27, Diamond turns on the overhead light, and the staff begins evacuating children.
CI O'Malley conducted interviews with lead staff Arnez Butler, staff Diamond Jernigan, and Tyra Griffith. Arnez stated that on Monday, October 20, 2025, she was called to the infant classroom by Diamond, who reported that Parent A and Parent C were fighting. Parent A and Parent C had been arguing back and forth via text on the facility's text thread since Friday, October 17, 2025, about who was responsible for more work done at the facility. Parent A arrived at the facility on the afternoon of October 20, 2025. Arnez placed Parent A and Parent C in separate classrooms for the day, but they continued to argue via text. Diamond called her to the infant classroom during naptime. There were five children in the infant classroom, four of them were sleeping, two were the children of Parent A, and one was the child of Parent C: Child A (18-months-old), Child B (5-months-old), Child C (22-months-old), Child D (7-months-old), and Child E (9-months-old). Parent A and Parent C were standing face-to-face in the center of the classroom with Diamond in-between them when she arrived. Parent A, Parent C, and Diamond moved closer to a wall, away from where the infants were sleeping. Arnez stepped between Diamond and Parent C; Parent A was behind Diamond. Parent A and Parent C continued to argue over her and Diamond. Arnez did not recall the words that either Parent A or Parent C used. Tyra entered the classroom. After arguing for another minute, Parent A reached over her and Diamond with a small pepper spray canister in Parent A's hand. Arnez did not see where Parent A had kept the spray. Parent A discharged the spray into Parent C's face. Parent C charged at Parent A, swinging her fists and striking Parent A several times. Parent A fought back, and Diamond attempted to separate them. Everyone in the room began to cough and the fight ended. Arnez, Diamond, Tyra, and Parent A evacuated the children from the classroom. Parent A and Parent C were both terminated that day. Child A, Child B, and Child C were all still enrolled at the facility.
Staff Diamond Jernigan stated that she and Parent A were working in the infant classroom on the afternoon of October 20, 2025. Parent C entered the classroom just after the beginning of naptime. Parent C walked straight to Parent A in the center of the room and started yelling. Diamond knew that Parent A and Parent C had been arguing all weekend via text. Diamond yelled out for Arnez. Arnez and Tyra entered the room; Parent A and Parent C continued to argue right up in each other's faces. Diamond and Arnez attempted to separate Parent A and Parent C, but they continued to argue at each other with she and Arnez between them. Diamond and Arnez were both facing Parent C when Parent A reached around them with a small pepper spray canister. Parent A discharged the spray into Parent C's face. Parent C charged at Parent A. Parent A and Parent C exchanged blows for a few seconds, then everyone in the room started coughing. Diamond, Arnez, Tyra, and Parent A evacuated the children from the room.
Staff Tyra Griffith stated that she heard Diamond yelling out for Arnez. Tyra entered the infant classroom after the pepper spray was discharged. Tyra started coughing as soon as she entered the room. Tyra immediately started evacuating the children from the room. Tyra wheeled the sleeping children out in their cribs. All the children slept through the incident.
On October 24 and 27, 2025, CI O'Malley attempted to contact Parent A and Parent C via phone, voicemails were left for each on both occasions. Neither has returned contact.
On October 27, 2025, CI O'Malley conducted phone interviews with Parent D (parent of Child D) and Parent E (parent of Child E). Parent D stated that Arnez contacted her immediately after the incident. Arnez also posted about the incident in the facility's ProCare app. Child D was still enrolled at the facility. Parent D was satisfied with Child D's care.
Parent E stated that Arnez contacted her immediately after the incident. Child E was still enrolled at the facility. Parent E was satisfied with Child E's care.
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