White Florida woman allegedly slapped black child, called him a racial slur

A white Florida woman has been charged with child abuse after she allegedly slapped an 11-year-old Black boy and called him a racial slur at a go-kart track.

Charges for Haley Zager, 30, were upgraded to a second-degree felony because of the racial slur she is accused of using last week, police in Boca Raton said, according to multiple reports.  

The alleged incident took place at a Boomers amusement park on Saturday. Three employees said that they witnessed Zager stepping out of her go-kart and smacking the boy after his kart slammed into hers, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.

She told police that the child did not apologize and she “tapped” him in the face, according to a police report. The report also claimed that Zager told an employee “that f—ing [n-word] hit me in the back.”

The boy’s father reportedly told police that another car had rammed into a row of carts, causing his son’s cart to bump into Zager’s. Another boy who witnessed the incident said Zager stepped out of her cart, slapped the boy with her palm open, and told a bystander “the [n-word] hit me. The [n-word] hit me.”  

The boy told police that he was slapped, but he did not hear what she said because he was processing the incident, according to the Sun Sentinel. Paramedics gave him an ice pack to help with swelling on his face.

Zager was also charged with four counts of drug possession after an officer allegedly found prescription pills on her person. 

Circuit Judge Ted Booras allowed Zager to leave jail on Monday on her own recognizance, as long as she is supervised, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Court records reportedly show a felony case for Zager in Palm Beach County over alleged aggravated domestic battery in 2018, though prosecutors did not pursue the charges.