A sixty-one-year-old Back Berryton Road woman was arrested last week after she was observed in the Commerce Street Dollar General Store slapping a child in the face and then punching the child in the ribs.

Dollar General employees called Summerville Police after the incident.  Police found the woman placing the child in a car seat and detained her.  Police were shown video of the incident which reportedly showed the woman first slapping the child in the face and then punching the child with a closed fist.

The woman told officers that she spanked the child, but did not “remember” slapping or punching the child.

Mamie Lee Abernathy was booked in the Chattooga County Jail, charged with cruelty to children and battery under the Family Violence Act.