A Hartford. Connecticut girl is going through felony fees in a New Britain baby abuse case that was captured on video.
Bridget Puntiel, 27, allegedly struck a toddler’s head a number of occasions utilizing “hook punches” and “hammer strikes” throughout an assault that was captured on video on Aug. 6, 2022, in keeping with the warrant for her arrest.
The nine-page affidavit has been redacted in a number of locations, together with areas that seem to element the 27-year-old’s relationship to the sufferer and the age of the kid.
Puntiel, who's free on a $50,000 bond, faces fees of threat of harm to a minor, intentional cruelty to individuals and third-degree assault. She is predicted to face a decide in New Britain Superior Court docket on Could 19.
New Britain police started investigating in September upon being contacted by the Connecticut Division of Youngsters and Households.
The warrant alleges the assault passed off in a lounge in a New Britain residence that was geared up with surveillance cameras. Digicam footage exhibits Puntiel standing over the sufferer as they're sitting on a sofa and pointing to a different room yelling one thing inaudible, the warrant stated.
The confrontation rapidly turned violent when Puntiel struck the sufferer’s face in what police stated seemed to be a closed-fist punch, in keeping with the warrant. The kid then coated their face and started crying earlier than flinching a number of occasions, “clearly anticipating one other strike,” police wrote.
Puntiel then slapped the sufferer with the again of her hand earlier than she “maneuvers a method to entry (their) face utilizing a hook punch and strikes (them) once more straight within the face together with her proper fist whereas they're turned,” the warrant stated.
“You may clearly hear the sound of the strike as her fist makes contact with (the) sufferer’s face,” investigators wrote.
The juvenile, who cowered and began crying extra at this level, was then hit once more when Puntiel “delivers one other hook punch together with her proper hand on to” the sufferer’s face, in keeping with the warrant. Puntiel then put her knee on the sofa in an try to get on high of the kid earlier than she “delivers three consecutive hammer strikes to the again of (the) sufferer’s head with a closed fist,” police wrote.
Based on the warrant, Puntiel then pulled the sufferer’s arm away from their face and slapped his face earlier than telling them to go to their room. The video, police wrote, appeared to point out her pulling the kid’s ear as they walked out of the room.
Police famous within the warrant that Puntiel was beforehand arrested by New Britain police in July 2016 on fees of threat of harm to a minor and intentional cruelty to individuals. Judicial information point out she obtained an 18-month jail sentence, adopted by three years of probation, after pleading responsible to the danger of harm cost.
“The Division of Youngsters and Households performed a joint investigation with the New Britain Police Division concerning this incident after allegations of kid maltreatment have been reported,” DCF Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes stated Tuesday. “Given this can be a pending felony investigation, and that the Division adheres to confidentiality underneath state statute 17a-28 and federal regulation, no additional info may be launched right now.”
Dorantes continued, “It takes the collective efforts of these all through our neighborhood — relations, neighbors and professionals — to guard kids. An affordable suspicion of kid maltreatment may be made to the Youngster Abuse and Neglect Careline by dialing 1-800-842-2288. The Careline is open 24 hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a yr. Callers to the Careline can stay nameless.”