A 31-year-old Carson City woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of felony child abuse causing mental or physical harm after surveillance inside a retail store captured her backhanding her six-year-old son in the face for no apparent reason.
Ashley Rose Mields was arrested at Walmart, in the 3200 block of Market Street at 7 p.m., after Carson City dispatch received 911 calls from customers reporting the incident. She is being held on $40,000 bail.
According to the arrest report, a Carson City sheriff's office deputy responded and located the woman standing outside a white Lexus sedan. The deputy questioned Mields about striking her child inside the store. The woman told the officer that she attempted to hit her son in the arm but may have hit his face instead, the arrest report states.
The deputy spoke with the child and asked him where he was hit. The boy covered his right eye with his right hand, the arrest report states.
The officer then went to the security office where he was able to view surveillance footage of the woman, who was in the greeting card aisle with her son standing to her right.
The boy did not appear to be throwing a tantrum or out of control "just standing there" and at 5:55 p.m. the woman stepped to her son and backhand slapped him in the face, the arrest report states.
The woman then grabbed the boy by the left arm and led him, in a hurry, out of the store as the boy held onto the front side of his face, the arrest report states. The boy was released to his grandmother in the car.