Massapequa Tutor Time assistant teacher charged with assaulting 3-year-old girl

An assistant teacher was arraigned on Sunday for allegedly assaulting a 3-year-old girl at a Massapequa daycare and preschool in October.

Sydney Forbes, 21, of North Amityville, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child. She was released with an ankle monitor.

The incident in question dates to Oct. 5 at Tutor Time, a daycare and preschool chain with a location on Grand Avenue. During naptime that day around 1 p.m., the toddler was running away from Forbes when she grabbed the girl and squeezed her shoulder, prosecutors said. The girl was seen on CCTV camera footage crying, they said, and was left with red marks on her shoulder.

The child’s family called police to report the incident later that day, according to a Nassau police spokesman.

Prosecutors on Sunday requested $75,000 bail and a restraining order. Judge Madeleine Petrara-Perrin issued the restraining order and released Forbes without monetary bail to her family, who were in court.

Forbes, an early childhood education student at SUNY Old Westbury, has no prior criminal history or a record of incidents at the school, her attorney said.

"The circumstances in which we are here today is a surprise to everyone," said attorney J. Stewart Moore.

"There’s a likelihood that there may be some history of this child having some level of distress within the [school] for quite some time, and thereby the institution itself may be attempting to protect themselves and using my client as the scapegoat," he said.

The Massapequa Tutor Time did not immediately respond to questions from Newsday about the incident.

Nassau police arrested Forbes on Thursday. She is due back in court on Nov. 20.