ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A woman captured on a Ring camera slapping a child after he dropped a case of bottled water has been permanently banned from Instacart, according to the company.
The now viral video is also under investigation by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Children and Families.
The footage was recorded outside a St. Augustine apartment and shared online by the man who lives there. He says the woman was his Instacart shopper.
In the video, the woman is seen handing a case of bottled water to a young child.
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“You have to hold it. Put your hand out,” the woman says.
Moments later, the child appears to struggle with the weight of the package before dropping it, and water spills onto the floor.
The video then shows the woman running after the child and slapping him across the face. The sound of the slap is so loud that it echoes through the hallway.
The child can be heard crying immediately afterward.
The woman is then heard yelling profanities at the child.
“You’re the worst. The f’ing worst,” she says.
Moments later, she can be heard saying, “You motherf’er, piece of sh*t, pick this up. You’re going to carry something.”
The man who ordered the grocery delivery posted the video online and asked for help identifying the woman. The footage quickly spread across social media, drawing thousands of reactions.
When Action News Jax showed the video to people in St. Augustine, the response was immediate.
“Some of that, a lot of that was just uncalled for,” said Chance Ward.
“I mean, she deserves to rot,” said Jill Williams.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that its Special Victims Unit is investigating the incident alongside the Department of Children and Families.
Action News Jax also sent the video to Instacart.
In a statement, the company said the woman seen in the footage has been permanently removed from the platform:
“The behavior captured in this video is alarming and completely unacceptable. We have zero tolerance for violence of any kind, and the shopper has been permanently removed from the platform. Instacart maintains strict policies prohibiting shoppers from bringing any individual without a valid shopper account on a delivery, including children. We take situations like this extremely seriously and will fully cooperate with law enforcement and the relevant authorities as they conduct their investigation. - Instacart
The investigation remains ongoing. St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office would not answer when we asked if they had identified the woman.
The man who captured the footage declined a request for an interview, saying he was only trying to do the right thing and wasn’t looking for any attention.
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