Florida woman, 30, slapped 11-year-old, allegedly called him N-word after his go-kart hit hers at amusement park
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA: A White woman has been charged with felony child abuse charges after she allegedly slapped a Black boy at an amusement park for hitting her car at a go-kart track. Haley Zager also allegedly hurled a racial slur at the 11-year-old child at the Boomers amusement park in Boca Raton on Saturday night, August 22.
According to Boca Raton police, Zager and the child were driving go-karts at the amusement park when the latter one accidentally hit the woman’s car. But the 30-year-old confronted the boy after the ride before hitting him on the face and abused him with racist slur to justify her actions. The alleged incident was reportedly witnessed by three employees of the park. A metal Altoids tin full of numerous pills in her underwear was also found by the police. Zager was slapped with a second-degree child abuse charge and four counts of drug possession for the prescription pills, The Daily Mail reported.
Court records stated that the woman admitted to slapping the young boy, who suffered a swollen eye, but refused to accept the usage of slur. She reportedly told police that she stopped at the end of the race when another car struck hers “at full speed”. Zager said she went to the child for an apology, however when he did not say sorry, she “tapped” him in the face.
While recounting the incident to the police, she also told police that she should not have slapped the child. But the police report stated that she did not show any guilt at the park when she said to an employee, “That f------ n----- hit me in the back.” Another boy witnessed the incident as he said that after hitting the child, Zager told a bystander “The n----- hit me. The n----- hit me,” the report added.
The father of the boy whom Zager slapped told police that his child unintentionally hit her car as another car rammed into a row of carts, resulting in a chain of collisions. The boy also told the same story and said he did not remember Zager hurling racial slur at him as he was still processing that she had just struck him. The report stated that the slap on the child’s face left him with swollen cheek and Boca Raton Fire-Rescue paramedics provided him with an ice pack to relieve the pain. On Monday, August 24, Zager was released from jail on her own recognizance, jail records stated. It has also been reported that earlier in 2018, she faced felony charges in Palm Beach County for an aggravated domestic battery case, but the charges were not pursued by the prosecutors.
Meanwhile, the child and his family were invited by the Boomers amusement park for a free day. "At Boomers parks, we value being a family fun center inclusive to guests of all backgrounds. We are saddened that one of our guests did not possess these same values and we do not condone physical or verbal abuse amongst guests. We are appreciative of our staff and the police and fire rescue officers who acted swiftly to diffuse the situation,” the park said in a statement.