Lutz Woman Accused of Child Neglect at Wesley Chapel Day Care

A Lutz woman was arrested June 7 after she was accused of dropping and manhandling a toddler while she worked at Discovery Point day care in Wesley Chapel.

On multiple occasions, the woman was witnessed being excessively rough with children at the school, specifically a 2-year-old boy in her class, according to Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies.

Witnesses saw the woman carry the boy “like a sack of potatoes,” according to the deputies, and drop him on his back and head from waist height in the front desk area of the day care.

“I may have set him down too hard because I was frustrated,” the woman told the deputy.

The woman was also witnessed “dragging” the boy by his arm across the floor, deputies were told. He was “flung” against a wall on multiple occasions. The woman was seen lifting the boy by his arm and “dropping” him into a crib from 2-3 feet, according to the deputy.

Arrested was Barbara Bridges, 54, of 19757 Livingston Ave. in Lutz. She was charged with child neglect, booked into the Land O’ Lakes Jail and later released on $5,000 bail.