Wake County grand jury indicts former daycare teacher in child abuse case
A Raleigh daycare teacher was indicted after a 4-year-old said his leg was pulled at KinderCare on Mitchell Mill Road and he could not walk afterward.
Wake County parents are left with a stark question after a 4-year-old boy’s leg was fractured at a Raleigh daycare: how did a classroom confrontation become a felony child abuse case, and what warning signs were missed along the way?
A Wake County grand jury indicted former daycare teacher Ashley Nicole Taris, 24, on May 21, 2026, on a charge of intentional child abuse inflicting serious physical injury. Taris had already been charged in the case, and she was arrested Tuesday before appearing in Wake County Court Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors said she has no bond and is barred from contacting the child.
The case centers on an Aug. 22, 2025, incident at the KinderCare on Mitchell Mill Road in Raleigh. According to court accounts, the child told investigators that Taris pulled his leg while trying to make him sit down, including while placing him in the “criss-cross applesauce” position. Prosecutors said the boy immediately felt a burning sensation and could not walk afterward. In court, the injury was described as a spiral fracture of the tibia.
A Wake County assistant district attorney said the state’s information did not support Taris’s account that she was doing donkey kicks and fell on the child’s leg. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child Development and Early Education investigated the incident and described the allegation as a staff member aggressively pulling the child by the lower leg or ankle, causing a fracture to the lower shinbone or ankle.
The timeline has fueled scrutiny of the daycare’s response. CBS 17 reported that KinderCare received a violation six days after the August incident tied to the same allegations. The company said it immediately notified the child’s family and the appropriate agencies. KinderCare also said Taris was briefly allowed to continue teaching under an approved safety plan before licensing officials later asked that she be removed from the classroom in October 2025. The company said she is no longer employed there and did not return after being placed on administrative leave.
State child care rules put DCDEE at the center of that oversight. The agency monitors licensed child care programs, conducts visits when regulatory concerns arise, and investigates suspected child maltreatment in child care facilities. State guidance says anyone who suspects child maltreatment in a child care center has a duty to report it to the division, a reminder that accountability in these cases depends not only on prosecutors and police, but on licensing systems and mandatory reporting working quickly enough to protect children.
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