Photo by Raleigh Police Department
The Raleigh police department arrested 20-year-old Brianna Ashanti Lofton and charged her with two counts of felony child abuse and possession of marijuana. The police discovered Lofton after video of her 1-year-old daughter smoking went viral.
The original video, which appears to be removed, received 1.5 million views. In the video, someone off screen holds, what appears to be, a rolled cigarillo to the baby’s mouth and the baby inhales. (FYI — watch at your own discretion, it’s pretty painful to see this helpless baby be subjected to this foolishness)
Screengrab pulled from Facebook
How exactly does this video go viral? Thank Rasheed Martin for bringing it to the attention of Raleigh law enforcement. Martin, who actually doesn’t know Lofton, reposted the video in hopes to identify the woman and get help for this child being abused.
Martin said this to the New York Post, “Once more and more people found out about this situation, they showed me a screenshot of her actual Facebook page. Then I later added it to the post so everyone could know exactly who…did that to the poor little girl.”
The child is now safe, according to a statement made by the Raleigh police department via Facebook. She has been placed with child protective services.
TELL US: Exactly what punishment do YOU think she deserves?
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