LEESBURG, Fla. — The Leesburg Police Department said Wednesday that it wanted to arrest a mother for dunking her son's head in a toilet, but the state attorney's office declined to pursue charges.
The agency said it started to investigate the incident on Saturday after video surfaced on Facebook of the woman dunking her 3-year-old son's head in a toilet after he used profanity.
After interviewing the child, police and the Florida Department of Children and Families recommended that the state attorney file charges against Kaitlyn Wolf, claiming the incident "threatened harm of mental injury due to bizarre punishment."
But the state attorney's office said there was no physical abuse or neglect.
Kaitlyn Wolf told Channel 9 she planned to wash out her toddler's mouth with soap and water, but decided to discipline him another way after seeing a child in a film get his head shoved into a toilet.
She said she held her son above the toilet and dipped his head into the water.
"It was a joke between the three of us. My sons and I horseplay rough," Wolf said. "We stuck his head in the toilet and flushed it. And my older son was recording it."
Wolf said she sent the video to the boy's babysitter.
"I sent it to her as a joke, like, 'Haha. This is the new way you can discipline them,'" she said. "So she sent it to my boyfriend's ex, who sent it out and made it go viral."
Wolf said her son was never in danger.
"His head was never under the water, his face never got wet. It was maybe the top or this part of his hair," she said. "It's scary to think I might lose my children over this -- over a joke that we played."
Many of the Facebook users who commented on the video said they reported the incident to the Leesburg Police Department.
"The police actually came on Saturday and stayed on the road because people were threatening to come here and kill me," Wolf said. "They have been patrolling the area."
"It was just a game," Wolf said. "I didn't inflict harm on him. He didn't have any bruise or cuts. He was laughing during the video."
She said she regrets the stunt and has received death threats because of the viral video.
"Everybody just stop Facebooking me and telling me you want me to die," Wolf said. "I get it."
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