Two teens who allegedly put a baby in a refrigerator and posted the incident on Snapchat are now facing child endangerment charges.
The babysitters appeared in the video to be laughing while they placed the crying infant into the refrigerator and shut the door, the Boston Herald reported. The video showed the girls taking the child out of the appliance seconds later laughing with one saying, "See, she's OK."
The incident reportedly took place in a home in Danvers, Massachusetts. The girls, whose names have not been released, were arrested earlier this week after Danvers and Swampscott police were notified Monday of the video, Essex district attorney spokesman Steve O'Connell told the Herald.
The girls were identified by the mother of the infant as her 15-year-old niece and her 14-year-old friend, WBZ-TV reported. Both girls were arraigned in Essex Juvenile Court in Salem Tuesday on charges of child endangerment and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the Herald stated.
"The refrigerator was the dangerous weapon," O'Connell told the Herald Wednesday. Authorities told WCVB-TV that the infant was doing well and was still with the family.
The infant's mother told the television station that she asked her niece and a friend to watch her daughter for a few minutes so she could take a shower.
"I was horrified. I was in shock," the mother told WCVB-TV. "I'm traumatized from that. I don't want anyone near my child anymore.
"I know she wouldn't hurt my daughter and that wasn't her intentions. I think it was all foolishness, stupidity. I will no longer be leaving my children with my niece or her friends again ever in my life," the mother added.
The infant's mother told WBZ-TV, though, that she did not think the girls should be charged because she believed that it was a stupid prank that went wrong.
"I feel like they learned a lesson and would never do it again," the mother told WBZ-TV. "My niece is a goodhearted girl who wouldn't hurt a fly."