Police investigate alleged beating of child caught on tape

ATLANTA — Witnesses called Channel 2 Action News after they say they saw a mother repeatedly hit her daughter with a belt outside their apartment.

And, they were shocked when police officers didn’t take action right away to protect the child when they showed officers video of what happened.

The Atlanta Police Special Victims Unit is actively investigating this now, but only after another officer saw the video and forwarded it to them.

The mother faces no criminal charges.

The cell phone video is extremely graphic and difficult to watch. To protect the child, Channel 2 Action News is only showing a limited portion to tell the story.

"It's a thin line between being disciplined and abused," Meica Engram told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh. “That wasn't a whooping, that was a beating."

Engram said it happened in the courtyard of her Northwest Atlanta apartment complex Monday afternoon. Engram said she was sitting outside with her family when her neighbor's child returned from school.

"She had her pinned up against the railing like this, while she take her belt off,” Engram said.

That's when Engram's sister grabbed a cell phone and began recording. They also called police. During the recording, the mother turned to the neighbors and shouted "Record it."

The recording lasts about three minutes. Kavanaugh counted the mother strike the child with her belt in excess of 50 times.

"She was actually beating between her legs. If you see her, she hit her across her face,” Engram said.

In the police report, the officer wrote that the mother "…stated that her daughter had been coming home to her over the past week lying about school work and other activities.."

The officer also wrote "I watched the video and observed a mother whooping her child but nothing in an abusive manner."

Wednesday, Atlanta police told us the officer and his supervisors did not feel the mother's actions were criminal. They say they called an ambulance and an EMT saw no visible signs of injury.

"There was an officer at the precinct, that was made aware of the video on YouTube. When he witnessed the video he called our specials victims unit and they began investigation,” said Sgt. Greg Lyon.

The video has been removed from the site.

"I feel like she really abused that girl,” Engram said. “We don't know what's going on in that house."

Police say they believe the mother was using a cloth belt.

Now that SVU is investigating, the Division of Family and Children Services is also involved.

Police say the child was in DFCS custody Wednesday night, pending the investigation.

We went to the mother’s apartment for comment, but no one was home.

WSBTV