'Doing what her boss told her': Daycare worker let young child walk across 6 lanes of busy highway, then lied to cops about what happened, police say

A Florida daycare idiosyncratic is accused of failing to decently supervise a young child, allowing the lad to flight and tally crossed a highway, narrowly avoiding being deed by a car.

Halee Russo, 27, is charged with kid neglect without large bodily harm. Concerned motorists began contacting the Fruitland Park Police Department soon aft 11 a.m. Friday aft they saw the lad darting crossed postulation connected U.S. Highway 27 adjacent County Road 466A, wherever the velocity bounds is 50 mph, a probable origin affidavit said. Some drivers pulled implicit and got the lad to safety, returning the lad to the daycare unharmed.

Russo told deputies she typically checks to spot if the gross from the playground to the parking batch is locked, but she did not bash truthful connected the time successful question, cops wrote. The suspect initially said the lad escaped portion she was tending to different children but helium was discovered by a genitor adjacent the beforehand door. Russo claimed she ran aft the lad 5 seconds aft helium opened the gross and caught up to him by the clip the genitor stopped him.

But cops confronted her with accounts from aggregate witnesses who saw the lad tally crossed the highway, meaning determination was a overmuch longer play during which the lad was unaccounted for. Russo, who has worked astatine the daycare since November 2024, became "emotional" and said she was "just doing what her brag told her," the affidavit stated.

Russo said the past clip she saw the lad was erstwhile helium was astir to spell down a slide. She turned her attraction to different kid who was upset. She estimated she mislaid way of the lad for 2 minutes. Russo claimed her brag told her to prevarication truthful the daycare wouldn't beryllium closed. The sanction of the daycare is redacted from the report.

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The teacher said the gross was locked, truthful the lad apt crawled underneath it to escape.

"The suspect confirmed the juvenile was solely successful her attraction and she was not providing the juvenile with capable supervision, putting the well-being of the juvenile astatine risk," cops wrote.

Officers arrested Russo and took her to the Lake County Jail, wherever she has since posted a $2,500 bond. Her adjacent tribunal day is acceptable for July 6.