Watch Severe Paddling Of FL 6-Year-Old Lawyer Says Is Child Abuse

CLEWISTON, FL — As her 6-year-old daughter was being paddled by her Florida elementary school’s principal, Melissa Carter, with a wooden board the size of a charcuterie platter, her mom hit record on her cell phone.

It went against her instincts as a mother not to intervene, but as an undocumented immigrant who doesn’t speak English, she feared that without proof, she would be dismissed and corporal punishment would continue at Central Elementary School in Clewiston, where such painful physical punishments are against the law.

The mother, an undocumented immigrant who wasn’t named by the news agencies covering the case that has gained national attention, had been summoned to the school in mid-April to pay a $50 fine after her daughter damaged a school computer. When her mom arrived, the youngster was waiting in the office with Carter and Cecilia Self, a clerk.

The mother didn’t give school authorities permission to hit her child, who is about 3 feet tall and weighs 40 pounds. When Carter started paddling the girl as Self held her down, her mother noticed there were no surveillance cameras to back her up, so she secretly recorded the encounter.

She was, her attorney told CBS News, astounded and shocked by what was happening and was frozen by fear.

“Nobody would have believed me,” the mother, speaking in Spanish, told news station WINK in Fort Myers. “I sacrificed my daughter, so all parents can realize what is happening.”

The video is difficult to watch. It shows Carter winding up with force to deliver three solid, loud smacks to the crying girl’s backside.

“Now, don’t do it again and sit down,” Carter berated, pointing her index finger at the girl.

The verbal beat-down continued, and at one point, the child began to hyperventilate.

“If your mom wants to come up … and spank you and we can watch,” Carter continued, pointing toward the back of the room, “that’s gonna happen.”

The girl’s mother told WINK she was struck by “the hatred with which she hit my daughter.”

“I have never hit my daughter like she hit here,” the mom said. “I had never hit her.”

The girl’s mother took her to the doctor to document the bruises, and is worried about long-term psychological damage, WINK reported.

The punishment was so severe it can rightly be called child abuse, family attorney Brent Probinsky told CBS News.

The Clewiston Police Department, the state attorney general’s office and the Florida Department of Children and Families are all investigating the incident, Probinsky said.

“This is child abuse,” Probinsky told CBS. “She should be charged with a crime and face those consequences.”

Carter is on administrative leave from the school district. Probinsky told CBS he doesn’t think she should ever again be allowed to work in a school.

The sound of a wooden paddle smacking a child's bottom still reverberates in 19 U.S. states, including Florida, where it's up to the county school district to decide whether to use the form of punishment that many psychologists, civil rights groups and educators say perpetuates violence and doesn't work.

Of Florida's 67 counties, only 20 allow corporal punishment. Hendry County, where Clewiston is located, is not among them. The Hendry County School District’s policy states explicitly forbids corporal punishment and says sanctions for rules violations are to be decided by the superintendent.

The girl’s mother told WINK that she will fight for her daughter, something she was unable to do as she was being paddled.

“I’m going to get justice for my daughter because if I could not do it in front of her, I’m going to do it with justice,” she said.

Patch has reached out to the Hendry County School District for comment, but has not heard back. The school district declined comment when contacted by WINK, and CBS also reported the school district had not returned the networks calls asking for comment.