A Florida Instacart delivery worker has been arrested after troubling surveillance footage appeared to show her striking a crying child in the face while making a delivery at an apartment complex.
Kiah Lowery, 36, was taken into custody earlier this month in connection with the May 31 incident in St Augustine, according to the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office. The video, which later circulated online, allegedly captured the confrontation in a hallway.
Lowery was charged with child abuse after deputies responded to the apartment complex following a report from an Instacart customer, who told authorities the incident had been recorded on his Ring camera.
Investigators identified Lowery as the woman seen in the footage and said the young victim was her six-year-old son, according to an arrest warrant.
In the recording, Lowery appears to instruct the boy to hold a 24-pack of bottled water. The child struggled under the weight of the 26-pound case, grunting before telling his mother, “Ow, I can’t hold it.”
Deputies noted in the warrant that the boy weighed only about 49 pounds. Moments after trying to lift the case, his arms gave way and he dropped it.
The dropped water appeared to anger Lowery, who allegedly chased after the child as he backed away, grabbed him, and slapped him in the face. The boy could then be seen crying and clutching his face in pain.
“You’re the worst. The f***ing worst. How dare you! You are a f***ing piece of s**t. Pick this up. You’re gonna carry something!” Lowery then screamed, according to the footage.
Kiah Lowery, 36, was booked into jail and charged with child abuse after an alarming video appeared to show her slapping her child as she delivered Instacart orders in Florida
A customer’s Ring Camera footage captured the disturbing sequence of events. Police said Lowery ‘struck and scolded’ her six-year-old son
Detectives also noted that elsewhere in the video, Lowery called her six-year-old son a ‘f***ing p***k.’
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‘The defendant’s actions, before her reaction of striking the victim’s face, created a severe imbalance for the victim,’ police wrote in an arrest warrant.
‘The victim was clearly unable to hold the water and was struck and scolded by the defendant for an action that he was incapable of performing.’
Lowery told police that her son was being ‘defiant’ while she was fulfilling three orders at the apartment complex.
She apologized for her actions and called the behavior depicted in the video the result of an ‘over-stimulated moment.’
Lowery was booked into the St Johns County Jail, but posted a $5,000 bond. She is prohibited from contacting or seeing her child. Lowery has also been ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from the boy.
She has been given an electronic monitoring system to ensure she does not see the child, according to court documents. Authorities have not released further information about who has custody of the child.
Lowery is set to appear for her felony arraignment at the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in front of Judge Christopher Ferebee on July 7.
Police said the child was ordered to carry a 24-pack of bottled water that weighed 26 pounds, noting that he was only about 49 pounds
She has not yet entered a plea for the charges against her and does not appear to have retained an attorney.
Instacart shared a statement with Fox 13 condemning the ‘alarming’ and ‘completely unacceptable behavior’ depicted in the video.
‘We have zero tolerance for violence of any kind, and the shopper has been permanently removed from the platform,’ the statement continued.
‘Instacart maintains strict policies prohibiting shoppers from bringing any individual without a valid shopper account on a delivery, including children.’
The company concluded that they were fully cooperating with law enforcement during the investigation.
