Police are investigating a day care in Plymouth after shocking videos of an employee’s conduct started circulating online.

The cellphone videos appear to show a teacher yelling, handling children roughly and even swearing at a child at Lil’ Explorers Child Care Center.

“She was just, like, super upset, she definitely was unhinged and was out of control,” said Yanni Thomas, the assistant teacher in the classroom who recorded the videos.

Thomas said Thursday, her last day at work, she decided to document the troubling behavior of the lead teacher.

“I wasn’t going to leave my kids with her and in her care. I knew I had to do something to make it be known,” Thomas said.

Thomas said there were about 20 children between 2 and 3 years old in the classroom at the time.

“She’d get frustrated really quick. She’d always be irritated. Normal kid stuff would bother her and fire her up,” Thomas said. “Normally she does scream. She might chuck something across the classroom, make a comment like, ‘I can’t do this. I need a break before I do something I regret.'”

Thomas said the teacher would behave “inappropriately” almost daily but noted the videos taken Thursday were the worst behavior she had seen from her coworker.

“Just the aggression with the children and the screaming,” Thomas said. “It was definitely over the top”

The Plymouth Police Department said it got a call around 10 p.m. Thursday about “mistreatment of a child” at the day care.

“Detectives are actively investigating this incident,” a Plymouth police spokesperson said. “No further information will be released at this time.”

“It brought me to tears. I saw force, I saw anger,” said Serena Brambilla, mother of a 3-year-old girl who attended the day care.

Brambilla decided to permanently pull her child out of the facility Friday.

“I’m in connection with many parents, and we are all very upset,” Brambilla said. “You expect compassion, you expect care, you expect a level of integrity for your child. And it didn’t happen.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS found previous violations at the day care, according to reports from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which handles day care licensing.

The violations range from not meeting crib safety inspections to areas used by children not being in “good repair.”

One violation from April stated, “Children were subjected to prohibited disciplinary actions.”

Thomas also said she tried to report concerns to the center’s director at least five times over the past six months, but nothing came of it until she posted the videos online.

“It definitely was to make a permanent change because using my voice with one person wasn’t doing enough,” Thomas said.

The day care’s license is still active, as of Friday evening.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS got this statement from Cadence, the day care’s parent company:

“The safety and well-being of all of the children in our care is our top priority. We are aware of the recent incident involving several former employees and are taking this matter very seriously.

“We do not tolerate behavior of this kind, and the individuals involved are no longer employed with us. In addition, we have initiated an investigation into this issue and are fully cooperating with authorities. We are also providing proper notifications to our local licensing.

“All of our employees have passed mandated state background checks. In addition, we train our employees extensively on maintaining safety and their reporting obligations.  We encourage and require employees to report concerns to management directly so that they can be immediately addressed. We also regularly remind them of their obligations as mandated reporters. Finally, we train employees on how to handle difficult situations in classrooms, including asking for help, offering help when it is needed, and immediately notifying management of classroom concerns.

“We remain committed to maintaining a safe, secure, and nurturing environment for the children and families we serve. And we are thankful to our families for the privilege of caring for their children.”