Lochbuie police have arrested a mother accused of cruelty to a child after a video showing a toddler allegedly being abused was posted on Facebook and YouTube.
Lochbuie police tweeted that the child was taken into protective custody.
PRIOR COVERAGE | DA investigates Facebook video of alleged child abuse
Records obtained by Denver7 show the mother was arrested on two counts of "cruelty toward child" at 9:34 p.m. on Wednesday. Her bail is $3,000 on each count. We are not releasing her name to protect her son.
Multiple people emailed the video to Denver7 concerned about the welfare of the child. The video is extremely difficult to watch. In it, you can hear the mother cursing at the boy and screaming while he cries. She threatens to kill him multiple times.
Local police agencies were contacted about the video including Denver Police and Aurora. Ultimately it was determined that the incident happened at a home in Lochbuie, where the mother was living at the time.
Denver7's Liz Gelardi talked with the woman who recorded the video. Her name is being withheld because she says she is receiving threats from the boy's mom and others. The boy's mom was living with her when the incident happened.
"She kept going on and on that 'I’m, you know, I’m a good mother,' and I said this is not being a good mother," said the woman.
The woman who hit record said she had witnessed abusive behavior toward the child during the time they lived together. She told her friend to report the late-April incident to police because she was scared. When she found out the boy was still with his mother, she decided to post the video to Facebook because she felt like police were not doing enough.
"In the play pen she was actually physically beating him with her first, her fist, and she was beating him," she described. "And then she grabbed the high chair, it sits on a seat a regular seat and she grabbed it and she was pounding it on him like over and over and over again."
She explained she didn't step in because she is disabled and has a hard time getting around. She was also fearful for her life and her 17-year-old son who can be seen in the video.
"I wish I had called 911 but me and him were terrified, we were scared," she said.
Lochbuie Police Chief Tracey McCoy told Denver7 Wednesday, "The case has been forwarded to the district attorney's office for prosecution."
Thursday, Lochbuie police tweeted, "In reguards [sic] viral video an arrest has been made and the child is safe in protective custody."
The boy's own father told Denver7 the child is two years old. He said he just found out about the video on Wednesday and is trying to get custody.
Denver7 is not sharing the raw video, or the names of those involved, to protect the child and the child's identity.
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