Joshua Nair
Warning: This article contains mentions of child abuse that some readers may find upsetting
A waitress who spotted something odd while serving a table ending up saving a child who was being abused.
At a Mrs. Potato restaurant in Orlando, Florida, US in 2021, Flavaine Carvalho was finishing her shift as she was waiting on her last table of the night.
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The family restaurant was host to what would be a quick turn of events, which resulted in the police showing up and arresting a mother and stepfather.
Carvalho was taking the order of a family which consisted of a boy and his parents, though they told the waitress that he would be having his dinner at home.
The server looked over at the boy, dressed in a hoodie, glasses and a face mask, noticing a scratch between his eyes and a bruise on his temple.
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After walking away from the table, Carvalho came up with a sly plan that would get the attention of the boy.
She wrote a note that read 'Do you need help?', and managed to stealthily show the boy the message without his parents noticing, as he replied with a head shake.
"I knew he was afraid," Carvalho later admitted.
She persisted, making two more attempts to get his attention before he finally nodded - the server then called the owner of the restaurant to let her know that she had called the police on the boy's parents, who promptly arrived and arrested the boy's stepfather - Timothy Wilson II - on one count of third-degree child abuse, and his mother - Kristen Swann - on two counts of child neglect.
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Later on, a four-year-old was taken from the family by authorities, though she showed no signs of abuse.
After detectives spoke with the boy, they found out that his parents didn't feed him as a form of punishment, which resulted in him being 20 pounds (nine kilograms) underweight.
They also discovered that he was covered in bruises, uncovering that his father recently beat him with a broomstick and back scratcher.
The boy revealed that he was once hung upside down from his ankles in a door frame by his abusive stepfather, and was also disturbingly restrained by being strapped to a furniture dolly.
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Detective Lawler stated: "To be honest what this child had gone through was torture. There was no justification for it in any realm of the world. I'm a mother and seeing what that 11-year-old had to go through, it shocks your soul."
Then Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon said that it was Carvalho's quick thinking that saved the two children: "This could have been a homicide situation if she had not have intervened,
"The lesson here for all of us is to recognise when we see something that isn't right to act on it… This saved the life of a child," he explained.
Mrs. Potato's owner, Rafaela Cabede, said that she hopes that Carvalho has inspired others to be more aware of signs of abuse: "We understand that this has to encourage other people that when you see something, say something.
"We know when we see a situation that is wrong, we know what's the right thing to do. We know that speaking up is the right thing to do. But it takes more than acknowledging it. It takes courage."