I saw this nanny today at approximately 11:30 am in line at the East 70th St. Post Office. She was on her phone, and kicking at the child in the stroller. The child was approximately 2-3, blondish curls a few inches long (though hard to describe more - when she realized that I and another man were paying attention, she began covering the child's head, wheeling the stroller around). The nanny was West Indian by accent, and you can see (vaguely) from the picture below. She became verbally combative when she noticed that we noticed, and began yelling. I paid for the stamp I needed, and her behavior was so erratic, and her kicking at the stroller had also continued, so I tried to take a picture with my phone. The nanny slapped the phone out of my hand, continued yelling at me, cursing wildly, and threatening me that if I tried to take her picture she would make sure I paid for it. I was badly shaken and tried to leave but the nanny followed me with threats and yelling in a very agitated manner. Since she WAS threatening me, I decided exactly to take her photo because she was behaving in such an agitated and aggressive manner - the nanny then blocked the exit I was going to take (down the ramp heading west on 70th st towards 3rd). She began repeatedly thrusting the stroller (with child inside) against walls, then the door, and slapped my phone out of my hand and after I picked it up off the floor I snapped the attached photo. After the incident I realized that a number of my personal photos had been deleted - and damage to the screen, which now has a break diagonally across it. I omitted to note, this nanny also slapped my glasses off.There were numerous witnesses, only one other woman tried to intervene on behalf of the child (noting that she was shoving the stroller again and again into a door with child inside) and she was also verbally abused by the nanny (she said her husband was fu*%ing his secretary because she was so unattractive). The rest moved away - one of whom said to me, that the nanny was so crazy she was dangerous and just stay away. The nanny left going up towards Third Avenue on 70th.
God help the child in the stroller.
____________________________________________
OP was obviously shaken by this incident. After speaking with them, please note: "I didn't specify the gender of the child because from the cursory (before the nanny threw this cloth thing - a blanket? - over most of the kid) looking at the whole child, my impression clothes and all, it was a boy."
OP, you really should have contacted the police... Not only for the welfare of the child, but also because she assaulted you!
ReplyDeleteIf a stranger in a post office tried taking a picture of me or any child I might have had with me, I too would start yelling at the person. I don't want a stranger photographing me!!! But, she had no right to hit you or threaten you.
ReplyDeleteOP, I commend you for putting yourself out there like this to protect a child. Sorry this happened to you. This nanny is evil and I hope the parents see this and fire her! I know sometimes it's not a good idea to intervene but you never know what's going to happen. I have seen people here say, "you didn't do enough" and still others saying, "you went beyond the call of duty". I guess you won't know unless you're in that situation. But it's not too late to call the cops, this nanny had no right to touch you in any way!
ReplyDeleteTo AMom, if you were perfectly innocent and minding your own business I could understand getting mad at someone taking your picture but this was something entirely different! Maybe this nanny knows ISYN exists and will be seeing this on here! Otherwise, why would she try to hide the identifying features of the child?
ReplyDeleteIf anyone was trying to take a picture of a child i was with, I would hide the child's face, whether or not I was doing something "bad". NO stranger has a right to take a picture of my child!
ReplyDeleteOP, I think you or the post office staff should try to call the cops on this bad nanny. Since it was at the post office, I'm assuming there would be video surveillance footage and they could probably get a much better picture of her than yours from your phone. If there is video evidence that she was abusing this child, she needs to be arrested, not just fired. At the very least, she owes you a new phone.
ReplyDeleteWow, op I would def contact the police.
ReplyDeleteThere are security cams and if you tell them she slapped you and broke your phone AND what she was doing to the child then they might be able to get ahold of the security cams and find the parents of the kid.
I agree with those who said you should go back to the post office to ask if they have video of the assault on you.
ReplyDeleteCall the police regardless, since she did assault you and break your possessions.
Hope you get some resolution on this.
anyone who thinks no one has the right to photograph you when you leave your house is dreaming
ReplyDeletethere are cameras everywhere!
this lady should be prosecuted - good luck to the op
I totally would have called the cops if she slapped the phone out of my hand and was ramming the stroller into the door with a child in it! I agree it's not too late to call them.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been even nicer if one of the other patrons OR EMPLOYEES had called the police on your behalf, as the nanny's behavior was so aggressive towards both you and the child. I agree, though, that you should still contact the police now. It could help both you and the child
ReplyDeleteI agree with TC: she was being inappropriate with the child, and out of anger (not to mention fear of being caught by MB and DB and terminated) she reacted violently and unprofessionally. She broke your phone and assaulted you for no reason whatsoever.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you shouldn't have taken a picture, then again, she only acted this way because she knew she was in the wrong. Secondly, breaking your phone is like stealing your phone-your phone is damaged, and depending on the extent of the damage and your provider/plan, you will need to pay the deductible for a replacement phone, which can take 7-10 days for the arrival.
I would contact the manager of the post office, and ask them to verify what happened. I will still contact the police and ask them to contact the parents of the child.
This Reagan MacNeil (think of Linda Blair's character in the "Exorcist")of nannies can buy you a new phone with her severance pay, and Father Merrin and Father Karras can conduct the exorcism.
Let us know what happens...
Next time call the cops.
ReplyDeleteAmom- I agree that I would and I have flipped out when people tired to take a picture of my charge. Especially since cell phones now have gps tracking codes attached to pictures any lunatic could find the child.
AMom, you are wrong. By leaving the house and going into the "public," you have no expectation of privacy and EVERYONE has the right to take your kid's picture. That's what "public" means.
ReplyDeletePolice. Definitely. Picture or no picture she was endangering the child and screaming at strangers and assaulted you. The police would have asked her whose child it was and probably would have contacted the child's parents just to tell them what sort of thing was going on. As a Mom who employs a nanny I would definitely want to know if my nanny was capable of going ballistic like this in the presence of my child.
ReplyDeleteMPP...
ReplyDeleteExpect traffic to pick up! I just saw ISYN on Good Morning America. Congrats!
Thanks, Wow... I will be posting the link for the segment shortly.
ReplyDeleteYeah!! I will watch it today...it is 7:13 AM right now in CA so I hope I get a chance to see it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats MPP. Keep up the excellent work you do on this blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't remember say a legal right, I just said a right. you are correct, anyone can take pictures of anyone, including children, in public places. there is no law against it, but, i still would not react well to it.
ReplyDeletewow, police should have been called immediately. I definitely don't think I would have continued to do what you did, you have no idea who she is but the police should have been called... even before that point for the sake of the child at the very least! And I agree with others I would ask if they have footage from the post office cameras, the parents need to see it!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the pun..but talk about going "postal." LOL.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this woman (nanny) has a very bad temper, but in all honesty if I were just going about my day and some stranger began openly filming me, I would throw a fit. If I was w/a child, I would practice restraint, which this nanny obviously didn't do. I would NEVER endanger another child just because I was peeved at someone else. That is where this nanny erred in her judgement. She definitely needs to be reported to the police, but keep in mind OP that since you started this whole thing by filming her, you may have charges pressed against you since you instigated the assault. That is a risk you will have to take for the sake of this poor innocent child. This nanny has demonstrated that she angers easily and when she is angry, she cannot properly care for a child. She should be fired effective immediately.
Truth Seeker, I respectfully disagree. OP can legally take a pic of whomever she wants in public. And the nanny put her hands on the OP first. I don't believe the OP instigated this at all. She was only looking out for the child's best interest.
ReplyDeleteTruth Seeker,
ReplyDeleteYour interpretation of the order of events is not consistent with OP's report. OP clearly states that the nanny was "kicking at the child in the stroller" then became "verbally combative when she noticed that we noticed, and began yelling." OP next paid for her stamp, but nanny's behavior remained "so erratic, and her kicking at the stroller had also continued" THEN OP "tired to take a picture."
Note clearly that the Nanny was both physically aggressive toward her charge and verbally assaultive to passersby PRIOR to OP taking any photos.
I have to admit, I see your point TruthSeeker. Even though this Nanny was acting in an unacceptable manner toward this innocent and defenseless child, her actions can be viewed subjectively by a peace officer and it may boil down to her word against yours if there are no witnesses or video footage. She may say that she was antagonized by the OP since the OP was photographing her w/out her permission. She may say that she asked the OP to stop and the OP continued photographing her which angered her. Who knows? The police may say the Nanny acted out as any rational person would. I am not saying I agree w/this, it is just that police officers sometimes blame the wrong side in stuff like this. They listen to both sides objectively, then arrest the person they feel caused the incident to happen in the first place. One can justify why they started something, but it is usually left to the discretion of the police officer involved to decide who started everything.
ReplyDeleteSure, it is not illegal to photograph someone w/out their expressed permission, but is very rude to do so and in doing so, one can only be asking for trouble. This is why many celebrities have a problem w/the paparazzi taking photos of them. They feel violated and some have even acted out and attacked a camera person. When deciding on filming a stranger w/out the proper authorization, be prepared for the consequences.
For the record, I am not defending the Nanny here. I believe she is awful and needs to be fired by this poor child's parents. I want to stress this. I just don't believe this situation was handled the best it could be.
If I were being photographed by a complete stranger whether I was grocery shopping or simply taking a leisurely stroll in the park and I asked the person to stop and they continued, I would be angry too regardless.
ReplyDeleteOp, she assaulted you, you should have called the police on the spot!
ReplyDeleteI would have followed her around! I would have screamed at her too, telling her that she was abusive to the kid, to get attention of more people!
"AMom, you are wrong. By leaving the house and going into the "public," you have no expectation of privacy and EVERYONE has the right to take your kid's picture. That's what "public" means."
ReplyDeleteYeah, and one also has a right to keep them from doing it.
I too think that the situation could have been handled a little better. It probably would have been better to more discretely take her picture as she was walking out so as not to upset her.
ReplyDeleteWere employees aware of what was going on at the time?
If she really did physically assault you, you do have a right to go to the police... Probably nothing formal would come from it but it is possible that in the course of their investigation, the police would speak to the child's parents. At least that way, the parents would have the opportunity to look further into the situation and assess their child's safety.