Local woman charged with assaulting 8-year-old
A Uniontown woman faces charges of simple assault and harassment after she allegedly assaulted an 8-year-old boy at a daycare center. Uniontown police said Erica M. Olech, 23, of 3021 Langley Road was working at Little Kid Zone Child Care in Uniontown when the incident occurred Thursday.
Patrolman Thomas Kolencik said the boy’s mother, Lisa R. Dorsey, called police Thursday night to report her son had been assaulted.
According to Kolencik, Dorsey reported when she arrived to pick her son up that Erica Haynes, night manager at Little Kid Zone, told her that Olech had assaulted her son and that he suffered a small scratch to the neck.
Kolencik said that Haynes gave Dorsey an incident report detailing the injury and the treatment it was given, which involved the scratch being cleaned and iced.
The boy, according to Kolencik, told police “Erica O.” was mad at the children because they were throwing stuffed animals at each other and that Olech told the children she was going to throw the stuffed animals away and began picking them up and putting them in a garbage bag.
Kolencik said the boy told police he didn’t want Olech to throw away the stuffed animals and that he tried to stop her. Olech then grabbed the boy by the front of the shirt, twisted it and pushed him away, according to reports.
Kolencik said that police also spoke to Dorsey’s three other children who attend Little Kid Zone and who were in the same room when the incident occurred, noting that all three provided the same account of incident.
One of the children, a 6-year-old girl, told Kolencik that she pushed Olech back after Olech pushed her brother and said, “+get off my brother.”
Kolencik said that he spoke to Haynes, and that Haynes told him she was cleaning another room but that she heard Olech screaming at the children.
Haynes told police that Olech walked past her and said, ‘”I’m leaving, I don’t care if I get fired. I’m done.” Olech then collected her belongings and left, according to Haynes.
Another Little Kid Zone employee, Frances E. Sykes, told police she was in another room when she heard Olech tell the children to quiet down and then walked out of the room the children were in.
Kolencik said that Sykes reported she went in the room and saw the 8-year-old boy holding his neck. When Sykes asked the boy what happened he told her Olech “threw me,” police said.
Kolencik said police later made contact with Olech and that Olech told police she had been watching 10 children and that they would not be quiet and were throwing stuffed animals at each other.
Olech told police she began picking up the stuffed animals and putting them in a garbage bag when the 8-year-old boy jumped on the bag. Kolencik said Olech admitted grabbing the boy but denied pushing him, saying that she instead pulled the boy off the bag.
Olech, according to Kolencik, told police she did not realize she injured the boy, adding that the scratch could have been from her engagement ring.
Kolencik said Olech told police she did not mean to hurt the child and was sorry.
Olech allegedly told police she left the childcare facility because she was afraid to see Dorsey following the incident.
The boy was taken to Uniontown Hospital by his mother for precautionary treatment and released, Kolencik said, noting that the child suffered only a minor injury.
Police said Olech will receive the charges by summons and that a preliminary hearing on the matter will be held at a later date before Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros.