Mom Speaks Out After Hosing Child

July 11, 2008— -- The surveillance video of a small child being sprayed with a high-pressure hose was showing over and over on Orlando, Fla., television newscasts. Once the grainy images hit the Internet, reaction poured in from around the globe. Who was the child? Was she in imminent danger? And who was the woman with the hose?

What you are able to make out in the video is a woman who with one hand is holding the child and with the other is pulling the trigger of a high-pressure hose. There is no sound, but witnesses say the child was crying loudly. Because of YouTube, it wasn't just people in Orlando who were concerned and outraged. People thousands of miles away were afraid for the child's safety, and they wanted answers.

"I was walking around the corner and then this gentleman said, you know, 'This little girl has just been screaming and screaming,'" said Marlene Diaz, the carwash manager on duty that day. She said she hears loud screams from children on a daily basis but that this was a different sound. "It was more high-pitched," she said. "It was one of those that you know that somebody needs help. It was one of those kinds of screams."

Diaz had not seen firsthand what actually happened, but the carwash surveillance cameras captured the entire incident on tape. "That's when I decided, I need to go and check the cameras," she said. "I actually checked the footage a few times just to make sure that what I saw the first time was truly it."

By the time Diaz went back outside to check out the incident for herself, the woman and child were gone. She immediately called local police, but was worried that they wouldn't be able to track down the child.

"I was frustrated, I was mad," Diaz said. "My biggest thing was, are you going to be able to check and make sure the child's ok?"