Cocoa daycare teacher accused of angrily hitting and throwing her child to the ground during an apparent time-out

Cocoa, Florida. – A Cocoa daycare worker was arrested after she angrily punched and threw a child to the ground during an apparent time-out, police said.

Marlissa Qyera Rozier is charged with child abuse after she was seen on surveillance video lifting a child in a daycare classroom, two feet off the ground, and violently throwing him to the ground, according to an affidavit.

The investigation began on Aug. 13 when the owner of M&M Family Care Center, Inc. told investigators she observed a teacher abusing a young girl in a supervised classroom. The child's guardian also told investigators she had been crying more than usual and her bottom had been sore the night before, police said.

When investigators reviewed surveillance footage, they saw the child playing with a toy and “jumping around happily,” according to an affidavit. Rozier said a few words, then angrily walked up to the child and hit him on the head, causing him to fall to the ground.

Marlissa Rozier mug shot (Brevard County Sheriff's Office)

About 20 minutes later, Rozier approached the child again, grabbed her by the arms and lifted her three feet in the air. Rozier then aggressively drove the girl into a corner and threw her to the ground, causing the child to slam her head and body into the wall.

“It's heartbreaking. I don't like watching it because it makes me angry every time I see it,” said Annie Smith, Journ'i's mother.

Smith recounted how her daughter tried to explain what had happened: “She told her sister. She said my teacher hit me like that and she jumped on the floor and fell down again. I said to my husband, 'Watch what she says.'”

A teacher at the daycare also said she went into the classroom after hearing a thud, but Rozier told her the child had fallen and “everything was fine,” according to arrest records. When confronted, Rozier again claimed the girl had fallen before she left for lunch and did not return to work for the rest of the day.

Cocoa Police Department spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez praised the daycare center's response.

“The daycare center did everything right. They took the necessary measures. The employee is no longer employed there,” said Martinez.

Investigators said they had identified other victims in the classroom and that additional charges were “expected” to be filed once the children were identified.

Rozier worked at the daycare for two years.