Inset: Kristie Kovarcik (Middletown Police Department). Background: The day care where she allegedly abused a child (WTNH).
A woman from Connecticut, who once worked at a daycare, has taken legal responsibility for an incident where a 2-year-old under her supervision was forcefully thrown into a wall “like a piece of luggage.”
On Friday, Kristie Kovarcik, 48, confessed to one felony of risking injury to a child, along with three misdemeanors of second-degree reckless endangerment.
The incident in question took place in October 2023, but police weren’t informed until January 2024. Kovarcik faced arrest in February 2024 and subsequent charges were brought against her in March 2024 following an extensive investigation.
On that particular day, detectives from the Middletown Police Department responded to claims of a teacher attacking a toddler at the Town & Country Early Learning Center on South Main Street in Middletown, a city situated about 15 miles from Hartford.
The center informed the child’s parents of the incident and invited them to view the internal surveillance video capturing the event, according to police reports. After reviewing the footage, the child’s parents approached the police demanding Kovarcik’s arrest.
A parent recounted the surveillance footage, describing how Kovarcik approached the toddler, seized the child by the shirt with both hands, and “launch[ed] the victim through the air like a piece of luggage,” as detailed in an arrest warrant shared by Greenwich Time.
Detectives used less expressive language to describe the incident, instead settling on a description wherein the defendant allegedly “picked up the minor child and tossed the child to the side,” and left a bruise, according to a press release issued by the police department.
“The child’s head then struck a nearby wall, causing a minor contusion above his/her right eye. The Director of the facility heard a commotion and pulled up the surveillance camera for Kovarcik’s room,” police wrote in the press release. “She witnessed Kovarcik toss the child aside and heard the child’s head strike the wall. The Director entered the room and removed the child. She then reported the incident to the parents and DCF as required.”
That incident, however, was not the only one.
On Jan. 8, 2023, the defendant allegedly abused other children.
“Kristie (Kovarcik) is observed lifting a second young child out of a chair by (the) shirt near (the child’s) shoulders and dropping (the child) to the ground,” the warrant reportedly reads.
Then, some 10 minutes later, the defendant is reportedly seen “kicking the victim, while the victim is already on the ground,” according to the warrant. A few hours later, Kovarcik was seen “forcefully pushing onto the chest” of a different child while trying to make the child sleep during nap time.
After that, on Nov. 1, 2023, footage showed Kovarcik “forcefully shoving” a child out of her way, Greenwich Time reported.
“I just kinda lost my cool,” Kovarcik allegedly said during an interview with law enforcement, adding that the inciting incident occurred during a “very chaotic” day, Greenwich Time reported.
Kovarcik also initially denied mistreating any of the children in her care and claimed she was often left alone with the children and denied breaks for lunch by her superiors. Authorities, however, said those claims were disproved by the surveillance footage.
After her arrest, the day care facility released a statement about the incident to New Haven-based ABC affiliate WTNH.
“Upon observing the incident involving Ms. Kovarcik on our internal camera monitoring system, we immediately initiated an internal investigation, notified the appropriate state authorities, and terminated the employee,” a spokesperson said. “Our safety and training protocols are amongst the strictest in our industry, and we treat any such incident with the utmost seriousness. The safety and protection of the children in our care is always our top priority.”
Additional charges in the case were filed in August 2024, Middletown court records show. The defendant was released on bond thereafter.
Kovarcik is slated to appear in court for sentencing on Sept. 25,
