A waitress in the US has been showered with praise after her clever and swift actions rescued a toddler from an abusive household.
Jordan Cooper, who works at a Kentucky franchise of Olive Garden, was serving customers in the restaurant earlier this month when she saw a child with "black and blue" all over her body.
She said the man sitting at the table with the toddler was showing signs that he was a violent caregiver.
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"He was force-feeding her down her throat and grabbing her by her shirt and getting in her face," Ms Cooper wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post.
"She couldn't have been no older than two-years-old. He kept taking her to the bathroom when she cried and acting very aggressive towards her."
Wanting to do something but not knowing what the best course of action was, Ms Cooper grabbed the phone of another patron and pretended to take a photo of their table. In doing so, she captured the offender in the background.
She then discretely got the patron to send the photos to her phone, where she shared them on Facebook and to police, who identified the man and tracked him down.
Two kids have since been placed in state care and their caregivers, Mark Lee Pierce and Jessica Woodworth, have been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect.
In a follow-up Facebook post, Ms Cooper thanked everyone for their support.
"I don't want to be thanked for doing something I would hope most would do. It's our job as humans to protect these young children."
Newshub.
