Gainesville babysitter charged with assault after choking child, cops say
A Gainesville woman was arrested months after she allegedly choked and “nearly killed” a child while she was babysitting, authorities said.
Abby Elizabeth Chosewood, 23, was charged with felony assault in connection with an incident that took place in February, Gainesville police announced Tuesday. She is accused of nearly suffocating the child in her care, causing bodily harm, police said. The child was just a year old, Channel 2 Action News reported.
“It is unthinkable,” Gainesville police spokesman Lt. Kevin Holbrook told Channel 2.
Chosewood was arrested after months of investigation, Holbrook said, but police still have few answers about what led to the alleged assault. The incident was not captured by a baby monitor or other video camera.
“There is nothing for us to go on as to exactly why this did happen. This is something that we may never know. The child obviously is too young to tell us the truth,” Holbrook said. “But obviously, Chosewood knows what exactly happened and hopefully it will come out in court.”
No other details were released about the incident.
Chosewood, who said on her public Facebook page that she graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2022, is on probation after she pleaded guilty in Bulloch County to multiple charges related to stealing a debit card. According to the arrest warrant, she used another woman’s card to shop online in April 2021.
Chosewood pleaded guilty to one count of financial transaction card theft and two counts of financial transaction card fraud in September 2022, online court records show. She was sentenced to two years on probation.
About the Author
Henri Hollis is a reporter and restaurant critic for the Food & Dining team. Formerly a freelance writer and photographer with a focus on food and restaurants, he joined the AJC full-time in January 2021, first covering breaking news. He is a lifelong Atlantan and a graduate of Georgia Tech.
