Photo courtesy of WKRC News.
James Ciolino, a former daycare worker at the Wilde Kingdom Early Learning Center in Fairfield, Ohio, was caught on video pushing a four-year old-girl to the ground, WKRC reports.
Ciolino was alone in the classroom with ten children when another staff member, Jennifer Miller, entered his classroom with the little girl. The four-year-old had gone to Miller’s classroom, and Miller called for Ciolino to retrieve her. Instead, he closed the door of his classroom.
Miller opened the door and pushed the child into Ciolino’s classroom. Annoyed, Ciolino placed his hand on the girl’s chest and pushed her to the ground, forcing the child to break out in tears. Miller saw him assault the little girl but had no issue with it because she turned around and shut the door.
Lisa McMillion is the director of Wilde Kingdom Early Learning Center and was concerned when she heard the child crying. After watching the video, Coliono and Miller were immediately fired, and the police were called. McMillion said that she knew something had happened by the way that the little girl was crying.
“You just know something is not right with that cry,” she said. “As a mom, you know when something is not right. And as a director, I know all of those children and I know how they cry. The video itself has all the truth it needs in it. So as soon as you watch that or as soon as you see that, you know immediately what has to be done.”
Coliono, who is white, left the precious baby on the floor crying before finally picking her up by her waist and taking her to the office. He does not appear to check if the little girl, who is Black, was hurt by his atrocious actions. The ogre is approximately six feet tall and weighs 315 pounds.
McMillian also called the child’s mom Ernestine Pumah. She was understandably outraged upon seeing her child knocked down by a 315-pound white man.
“I was like, ‘What the hell is this?’ I cried. I couldn’t hold it. I was so heartbroken,” Pumah said.“The guy just pushed her away like an animal. A little baby who knows nothing, who all she knows in life is to play, eat and sleep. You push her down on her chest and she’s lying down crying, and you are still doing what you were doing? What a heartless man.”
A trial is set for December. Miller was charged with child endangerment, and Ciolino was accused of child endangerment as well as assault. Ciolino and Miller both pled not guilty.