It’s so easy these days to turn a blind eye or ignore a gut feeling when we sense something is wrong. Far too often, people convince themselves that “it’s probably nothing,” or “it’s none of my business.” Sometimes, what they see or feel may just be a misunderstanding, but far too often, they are witnessing an injustice that needs to be addressed. It’s particularly sad when these injustices involve children, who are sometimes too young or scared to speak up for themselves. We’ve seen far too many tragic stories of abuse in which we think, “why didn’t someone do something?”
In this story, a woman name Jordan did decide to do something after she witnessed something unsettling at work. Jordan worked part-time as a waitress at an Olive Garden in Paris, Tenessee. Usually, like many of us, she would not have been bold enough to take action, but what she witnessed disturbed her so deeply that she felt compelled to speak out. And as fate would have it, she didn’t normally work on Saturday nights, but on this evening she was the right person, in the right place, to see what so many others chose to ignore — children in need of help.
Jordan was assisting a couple at a table that had two small children when she suddenly felt something was very wrong. The waitress was particularly concerned about the condition of the baby, who didn’t look to even be two years old. She later noted in an interview: “I can’t even describe to you how bad she looked and how and why nobody noticed it.”
She decided to post her experience onto her Facebook page. However, the post has since been deleted. In her post, she described the child’s face as appearing “black and blue all over.”
She also pointed out how the man was rough handling the young girl in a violent manner, grabbing and yanking her brutally to take her to the bathroom, and then force-feeding her. Thanks to Jordan’s quick thinking, the abusive couple were soon behind bars facing a $200,000 bond each!
Jordan had also taken a picture of the man in the background with the assistance of another table.
“I had slid them my number, and they sent [the photos] to me as soon as they walked out the door,” Cooper shared with WPSD.
911 dispatcher Aaron Caldwell was on duty when he took the call and recorded the information. Police were also able to obtain information via Facebook.
“She put it online and when I found it. It had 1,400 shares,” Caldwell shared with WSIL. “It just so happened that we knew each other and I’m a dispatcher.”
As for the parents, Jessica and Mark , they are now facing charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect. And the children are currently in a safe place.
“I deleted the post but the baby is found and the… parents are in custody,” she wrote. “My heart can now be at rest. Thank you to everyone who helped me find these terrible people!”
