Police: Preschool workers sat by during bullying incident

COLUMBUS – Two employees of a Northeast Side preschool have been charged with child-endangering after police they sat by and watched while a five-year-old girl was bullied by classmates.

A video of the incident, recorded on August 13 at the Worthington Learning Center on Worthington-Galena Road, shows older students grabbing, pulling, dragging and swinging the girl, who tries to get away while Emma Dietrich and Joshua Tennant sit at a table and do nothing to stop the bullying, Division of Police spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis said.

At one point in the video, police say Tennant, 27, picks the girl up by her right ankle and her left leg and carries her upside down and places her back on a rug (pictured, above).

Police arrested Dietrich, 31, and Tennant on Tuesday and charged each of them with endangering children, first-degree misdemeanors, according to detectives Special Victims Bureau’s Abuse Unit.

The school was cooperative throughout the investigation, police said.

Detectives say the video shows Dietrich and Tennant sitting at a table in Dietrich’s classroom at 11:21 a. m., when the girl is brought into the room by one of Dietrich’s older students.

In the video, police say the older students are seen grabbing, pulling, dragging, swinging and bullying the girl, who appears frightened and keeps her eyes closed or covered and attempts to curl up into a fetal position.

At one point, she tries to get away but the other students grabbed her and held her down.

During this incident, police say Dietrich and Tennant continued sit in their chairs and watch the bullying without attempting to stop it.

None of the names of the students involved were released.