Day Care Field Trip Has Parents Up in Arms

BROOKLYN (CN) - A day care worker drove a pair of toddlers 50 miles to a Long Island mall and left them there, the kids' parents say in court.

Pollyana Craig and Nichior Green say their children, Tyler Craig and Abigail Green, were "taken, abducted and/or removed" from the Elite Christian Day Care in Brooklyn by Nicole Noble on Dec. 3, 2014, and driven to the Westfield South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, N.Y.

"She just went to the store and didn't return," attorney Rudyard Whyte said in an interview.

Noting that Noble had indicated that her motivation was to teach the kids a lesson about playing hide and seek in stores, Whyte said, "She just walked away and left the kids."

"She might have had a mental breakdown," Whyte added.

The kids were allegedly by themselves for about three hours before police found them. The whole ordeal lasted several hours, Whyte added, noting that children were ultimately placed on the state's registry of abused children.

Craig, one of the plaintiff parents, "did not know and could not be informed as to whether her beloved son Tyler Craig was dead or alive," the complaint alleges.

She is now "unable to erase the image of same from her mind, and suffers extreme pain, suffering, torment and anguish," according to the complaint.

Whyte said a psychologist is treating the children. "They're having nightmares, they're just really upset and afraid as you can imagine," he said.

Media outlets reported that Nicole Noble was arrested after the incident.

Efforts to contact the day care center were unsuccessful; the operator did not have the phone number listed.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Kings County Supreme Court seeks damages for negligence, naming as defendants the day care center, Nicole Noble and Nicole's mother, Gwendolyn Noble, the owner of the day care center.

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