A Florida woman faces child abuse charges after police say she slapped a Black child and called him a racial slur after he bumped into her go-kart at an amusement park Saturday.
The Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that, according to an arrest report, the charges were moved up to a second-degree felony because of the racial slur.
Haley Erin Zager, 30, told police she was stopped at the end of the racetrack at Boomers when a car hit her from behind “at full speed.” She said she “tapped” the child on the face when the child driving the car didn’t apologize, according to the arrest report.
The report said three employees of the park saw Zager get out of her go-kart and slap the boy.
When telling the police about the incident, Zager said she shouldn’t have hit a child.
According to the report, she told an employee “that (expletive) (slur) hit me in the back,” after the incident.
Three Boomers employees witnessed Zager stepping out of her go-kart on the track and smacking the boy, according to the report.
According to the child’s father, another car rammed into a row of go-karts that sent the boy’s car into Zager’s.
Another boy at the track said Zager got out of her go-kart, hit the boy with an open palm, and said to another person, “The (slur) hit me,” according to the report.
The boy’s left cheek was swollen, so Boca Raton Fire-Rescue paramedics gave him a pack of ice for it, according to the arrest report.
Zager was arrested for child abuse. When a female officer searched her, she found a tin container of pills and charged her with four counts of drug possession for the prescription pills, according to the report.
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