1-year-old girl bitten 'multiple times' at day care, school says
A 1-year-old girl was covered in bite marks after spending the day at an Arizona day care, according to her parents.
Rocio Enriquez told ABC Tucson affiliate KGUN that her daughter, Mila, had bite marks all over her back after she was picked up from Sunrise Preschools in Maricopa last week.
The toddler was bitten "multiple times" by another toddler on April 25 but the incident was "very short," lasting no more than 30 seconds, according to Sunrise Preschools.
Surveillance video from the day care showed another child injuring Mila while the caregiver was changing a diaper, Dana Vela, president of Sunrise Preschools, said in a statement. The caregiver was supervising "only" four children at the time, Vela said.
"This is not meant to excuse the incident but to explain what happened," according to a statement from the school that was posted on Facebook. "We can and will do better and this unfortunate matter has provided some hard learned lessons."
Enriquez said her daughter would have screamed "bloody murder" after the first bite. Neither she nor her husband have seen the video.
"So I want to know if someone heard a scream, where was management?" Enriquez said.
First aid was administered after Mila was bitten and her parents were informed, Vela said. The child who bit her was expelled.
"While there is established protocol to address occasional biting behavior common to many toddlers, the severity of the incident demanded a more appropriate response," the statement said.
The incident happened about 20 minutes before Mila was picked up, her parents told KGUN. Enriquez's husband, Rylee Umsted, said Mila was visibly upset when he picked her up from day care that day.
"She was shaking and I knew she didn't want to be there," he said.
Lashawna Goulburne, the mother of the 2-year-old boy who bit Mila, told KGUN that day care staff did not call her after the incident.
"He's not at fault here," Goulburne said of her son. "He's 2 and we pay. Not only me, but the other family. We pay for our children to be protected and be monitored and safe."
Sunrise Preschools described the incident as "heartbreaking and unacceptable," adding that it "should not have happened." The day care is also reviewing its policies and procedures "to keep this from happening again."
The caregiver has been suspended without pay pending further investigation, according to the day care.
"Sunrise Preschools considers safety of the children in our care job one," the school said in a statement. "It is our first priority. It is why we have been privileged to provide child care for more than three decades."
Neither Enriquez nor Umsted immediately returned ABC News' request for comment.
