A 58-year-old Illinois woman, Anna Petrou, was arrested and charged with endangering the life of a child after allegedly placing a 5-year-old child inside an empty garbage can on Monday, January 13. In an attempt to "discipline" the child, before the aforementioned heinous action, Petrou allegedly left the 4-year-old outside in a freezing cold alley.
Videos by Wide Open Country
According to a Homewood Police Department press release, Petrou allegedly left the child at the daycare's alley for about 20 seconds. Police stated that the temperature at the time was 19 degrees. The New York Post reports that both of Petrou's alleged actions occurred at The Learning Lab Preschool & Childcare stemmed from the child refusing to take a nap.
Video footage of the incident only caught the teacher placing the 4-year-old inside the garbage bin, to the dismay and consternation of other teachers and fellow kids. Deemed as cruel by the kid's parents, they only got to find out about the incident after the 4-year-old boy himself told them after picking him up.
"I had no words, especially when I reviewed the tape," Monica Forte, the boy's mother, told abc7. "And my first thing was, of course, I'm crying. And I went to the police station."
"We just wanna make sure that Grayson is aware that the situation, what she did, was wrong. He did nothing wrong," Justin Barnes, the boy's father, said. "It was just way worse than I could imagine. I'm worried about what he feels."
A "Joke"
When confronted by both Monica and Justin, Anna Petrou stated that all she did was an innocent joke. The boy's parents, of course, did not find it amusing at all. At the time, police told both parents that, since the boy didn't suffer any physical injuries, there was little they could do. However, on January 23, Homewood police charged Petrou with one misdemeanor charge of endangering the life of a child.
As a result of the incident, the daycare fired both Petrou and another daycare employee who failed to intervene. Learning Lab, the daycare, issued a statement and said that they are working "cooperatively and transparently with the family."
"We are working with our licensing agency, DCFS and the Homewood police," the statement reads. The boy's parents are currently considering a civil lawsuit against the daycare, according to abc7.
