An Egg Harbor Township woman is accused of striking two toddlers while working at a Galloway Township daycare center.
Jaime Price, 36, is charged with two counts each of child endangerment and simple assault in the incidents that took place two months apart. One left severe bruising on the child’s cheek and ear.
Price, who was wanted on two warrants, turned herself in with her attorney and an unidentified woman Monday afternoon at the Galloway Township Police Department. She is now in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
Price’s demeanor and interactions with the children had raised concerns from other staff members in the few months when the alleged attacks occurred, according to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by BreakingAC.
Jehan Attiyeh said she was notified that her son woke up from his nap with a bruise on his face.
But when she saw the 2-year-old’s face, she asked: “Who smacked my son?”
While the injured child is autistic and doesn’t speak, his twin brother is shown on video seen by BreakingAC telling what happened to his brother.
The twin says his brother “run away, and then she like boop,” and smacks his own face.
When asked who did that, the boy replies: “The teacher. The teacher hit his face.”
The child told the same thing to an investigator, according to the affidavit.
Attiyeh’s allegations that the bruising on her son’s face was done by an adult was confirmed after an investigation into the incident.
“The findings revealed the injuries were consistent with a slap and were not caused by another child,” the affidavit reads.
That investigation also brought attention to an earlier incident involving Price.
An investigator from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency notified the detective about the case of a 2-year-old girl who allegedly had been struck by Price in February.
“Miss Jaime is a bad girl,” the child told her mother when she came home from Children’s Academy one day in February, the affidavit says.
The girl said Price had “smacked” her on the cheek.
There are cameras at the daycare, Attiyeh said, but she was told they are only for live watching and nothing is recorded.
The academy’s owner, Liz Palmer, told BreakingAC the academy is fully cooperating with the investigation and that “the person in question was removed from the center in accordance with our policy pending investigation.”
She would not comment further on Price or clarify whether that meant the teacher was fired or just put on suspension.
“I take my responsibilities as an owner responsible party seriously and hold myself and staff to the highest standards well above and beyond state regulations which for us is only where we start and the only way is up and above,” Palmer wrote in the emailed response. “My staff are all trained well above state requirements including the person (in) question. The investigative detective and state investigator will attest to that and are both impressed with our onboarding and staff training protocol.”
Palmer added that she will make no other comments on the issue, but “will continue to make records available to investigators and continue to cooperate with the investigation.”
A letter sent to parents in April indicated that the allegations involved two members. Only Price has been criminally charged at this time. The other teacher has been cooperative, a source told BreakingAC.
