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Surveillance camera catches babysitter screaming at four-month old girl

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TULSA -- A father caught his babysitter screaming at his four-month-old daughter on his surveillance cameras.

Oscar Vasquez was at work on Thursday when he decided to check in on his daughter. When he did, he saw the babysitter screaming at baby Lyah. 

Vasquez said it looked like she pulled the baby closer when she screamed. 

"An adult intentionally hurting a child is, as far as I'm concerned, the worst crime in the world," Vasquez said. 

The incident occurred only about 40 minutes after the babysitter arrived.

Vasquez said he immediately left his job and went home. He said he felt numb and scared and just wanted to hold Lyah. 

When he arrived, he told the babysitter she needed to go. 

The woman, in her 20s, was hired from Care.com and had been with the family for two months. 

"For the last two months, we are not really sure if this is what she had been doing all along," Vasquez said. 

Vasquez and his wife took the baby to urgent care. He said doctors there told the family to take Lyah to the hospital because what happened was assault and hospitals have protocol in those cases. 

At the hospital, tests determined the four-month old did not have brain bleeding or broken bones. She did have temporary hearing loss. 

"[Doctors] told us it was assault or child endangerment because this is an adult being paid to take care of this child," Vasquez said.

DHS got involved at the hospital on Thursday. Vasquez said he has not heard an update from them since. 

The next day, Vasquez filed a police report with Tulsa Police. He said the officer who took the report said it was not a crime. 

"He said go home and be glad your daughter is OK and enjoy your weekend," Vasquez said  the officer told him. 

Vasquez said he thought when officers saw the video, they would arrest her immediately.

The Tulsa Police Child Crisis Unit said on Monday afternoon they had not received the case from the Riverside Division of TPD yet. They do plan to look into the case and interview the babysitter in the coming days. 

The District Attorney's Office will determine if charges are filed. 

"Some crime has been committed there," Vasquez said. "That just doesn't happen. My last thing to the officer was 'What are we going to do? What is the police department going to do for her not to be able to watch kids?'" 

Vasquez hopes the woman is charged so this does not happen to another family.

He suggests all families install cameras in their homes so they can catch similar incidents. 

The family did report the incident to Care.com. Vasquez said the babysitter was immediately removed from the site. 

"There's nothing basically saying she can't do this again," Vasquez said. "If they aren't charging her with anything when (prospective families) do a background check, there is nothing on there." 

We reached out to the babysitter. After saying we were working on a story with Vasquez about what happened with Lyah last week, she hung up. 

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