A North Carolina woman has been charged for allegedly assaulting a child after she threw soda on him and slapped him in the face with a bottle.
Authorities were called to the scene after 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3, to investigate the reported assault at the Sedgefield Garden Apartments in Greensboro.
Police arrested 62-year-old Kimberly Jennings, and she is facing two charges of assault on a child under 12.
The arrest followed the circulation of a viral video capturing the incident. The footage showed Jennings pouring soda on a boy and hitting him with the bottle at the complex near the pool area. According to her LinkedIn profile, Jennings is the property manager at the apartment complex.
The victim’s family and numerous community supporters gathered at the apartment complex the next day to express their outrage.
“This is child abuse,” said Joella Lee, the mother of the boy in the video.
Lee says she was not with her 11-year-old son Jace on Wednesday afternoon when the incident happened. She said her children are distraught and she wants Jennings to lose her job.
“I want her fired. I want her life destroyed. I want her to have nothing and be nothing like she made my kids feel,” she said.
During the incident, Jennings apparently confronted the children, instructing them to leave the pool area, which was not marked with any trespassing signs and warnings against unattended children. In response, Jace threw a bottle at Jennings after she reportedly pulled his little sister’s hair. Jennings then dumped the soda on him and hit him with the bottle.
The parents acknowledge that Jennings may have been trying to get the kids to leave the pool, but they assert that her actions were unacceptable.
“There is a different way to go about it,” Robert Eury, the boy’s father, said.“You don’t need to put your hands on nobody’s child at all. It isn’t your responsibility.”
Aisha Hogan, whose friend lives in Sedgefield Garden Apartments, shared the video on a Facebook page. She said her friend China Symone lives in the complex and has witnessed and experienced Jennings exhibiting discriminatory behavior and “being aggressive and threatening toward” guests and residents.
In a display of solidarity, dozens of people held signs with messages like “stop the violence” and “end racism” while gathering at the apartment.
“Racism will not be tolerated. Housing discrimination will not be tolerated, and we stand behind the family. I have two young sons myself, and I know that I would be very upset if somebody laid hands on my child,” Kay Brown, president of the Greensboro chapter of the NAACP said.
