A daycare worker in Pasco County has been arrested for throwing water at a three-year-old autistic boy’s face.
Tiffany Littlepage, 34, of Holiday is accused of dumping water on the child's head and then forcefully throwing water in the child's face because he was playing with her water bottle.
The boy is non-verbal, but the daycare owner, Tripp Crouch,, said, "I feel like we are trained to handle those situations at the school."
Crouch said the daycare is not a special needs school, but believes his teachers are adequately trained for special needs such as autism.
Littlepage worked there for about six months, but did have prior experience with teaching children, according to Crouch.
A teacher at the Children's Nest Day School on State Road 54 told investigators Littlepage is known to target children who are "slow learners and have disabilities."
Crouch said he was unaware that the worker treated certain children differently, and that kind of behavior is not tolerated. He also said it was an isolated incident, and a cause for termination.
Littlepage is charged with child abuse. She was booked at the Pasco County jail on a $5,000 bond.
