A teacher of Cuban origin was arrested in the southwest of Miami-Dade County, accused of holding a two-year-old child by the neck and shaking him inside a classroom, according to a report by the local press.
The accused is Beatriz Gómez Hurtado, 53 years old, who worked at the Lincoln-Marti Schools and Childcare Centers located at 15198 SW 288th Street.
The charge brought by the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office is child abuse without causing serious bodily injury.
According to the arrest report, the incident began when the minor had a tantrum and threw himself on the ground.
Gómez Hurtado lifted him by the wrist and then, “placed both hands around the victim's neck and face and shook him from side to side several times”, according to the police report.
After the aggression, the teacher seated the boy on a chair as a disciplinary measure.
The child had a mark on the right side of the neck and a bruise on the left cheek. Everything was recorded by the surveillance cameras in the room.
The reaction of the school and the parents
An employee at the center detected the injuries on the minor and alerted the director, who reviewed the video, immediately removed Gómez Hurtado from the classroom, and terminated her, notifying the family and the authorities.
In a statement, Lincoln-Martí Community Agency expressed that it is "deeply saddened and concerned," and emphasized that its surveillance systems "allowed the behavior to be quickly detected, the employee to be removed, the family to be informed, and the relevant authorities to be notified."
The reaction among the parents was one of alarm.
A mother confessed to Univision: "The truth is I'm still trembling because I never thought about that at any moment." Another father was more direct: "I hope the teacher gets what she deserves."
A witness identified as Nisha Evans stated to WSVN 7 News that the news did not surprise her: "When I was told, I already knew which teacher they were talking about," she affirmed; and revealed that she had withdrawn her own children from the school due to prior concerns with the staff.
Bail and restraining order
This Wednesday, Gómez Hurtado appeared before a judge, who set a bail of $5,000 and issued a restraining order regarding the victim and the school premises.
The defendant left the TGK jail in the county after posting bail and refused to answer questions from the press. A man who accompanied her at the time of leaving the prison simply told reporters, "There is nothing to comment on."
A concerning pattern in Lincoln-Martí
This case has a direct precedent in the same school network: in December 2024, teacher Merlin Gutiérrez was arrested in another Lincoln-Martí center after being caught on video hitting, shaking, and slapping a two-year-old girl.
Gutiérrez pleaded guilty in February 2025 and received five years of probation and a permanent ban on working with minors.
In both cases, the victim was two years old, the incident occurred in a classroom at Lincoln-Martí, it was captured on camera, and the institution took immediate action to dismiss those involved.
Lincoln-Martí Schools, founded in 1968 by the Cuban exile Demetrio Pérez Jr., has more than 46 centers serving approximately 6,500 students in South Florida.
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