PIKETON - A Piketon woman is facing charges after a video surfaced on Thursday allegedly showing children repeatedly striking a young child at her direction.

Lindsay N. Freeland, 31, of 3660 U.S. 23, is set to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges of child endangering and domestic violence in Pike County Court on Monday.

Chillicothe police took the initial report Thursday afternoon after a local father reported his child had received videos on Facebook of a child believed to be 6 years old being abused in Pike County.

"I didn't know what to do. It breaks my heart," he told the officer according to body camera footage reviewed by the Gazette.

According to the officer's report, the videos — 48 seconds in length combined — showed the girl was struck by two other children 45 times. Those blows were to her chest, head and body and she also was pinched several times.

The officer's body camera captured audio from the videos - the high pitched screams and cries of a young girl and a woman, allegedly Freeland, saying "Don't hit her in the face too much." The officer wrote in his report one of the children then asked why and she responded, "Because I don't want her to go to school with a bunch of marks on her."

"It's not the easiest thing to look at," Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk said of the videos. "This is something you almost never have, a video of a crime as it happens."

Junk said since Freeland does not have a prior conviction for domestic violence or child endangering, the charges can't be elevated to a felony, he said. However, the Pike County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the case and seeking medical records which will determine whether or not to seek further charges which could be felonies.

The children who struck the girl have not been charged with anything, but Junk said there hasn't been a final decision made, noting it will depend on what the full investigation reveals.

Children Services also is conducting an investigation and have developed a safety plan which involved removing the children from the home, Junk said.