Police said a child ran into a Leeds neighborhood yelling for help, and detectives later found a canister they believe was used in the incident.
LEEDS, Ala. — An Alabama mother is charged with child abuse after police said one of her young children ran through a Leeds neighborhood yelling for help and officers later found evidence that both children had been sprayed with bear spray.
The case has drawn attention because it began with a child seeking help in public and quickly turned into a felony child-abuse investigation. Police in Leeds said the children were taken to a hospital after officers found one child with red eyes and a swollen face. Investigators later arrested Christie Lashay Williams on a charge of torture or willful abuse of a child under 18. Public jail records show she posted bond the same day she was booked, while the children were removed from her custody.
According to police accounts cited in local reports, the case began March 8 at about 1:45 p.m. on the 7100 block of Wood Carriage Lane in Leeds, a city east of Birmingham. A caller told 911 that a young child was running down the street asking for help and appeared to have red eyes and a puffy face. Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin said the child was “crying for help,” and officers who responded went to the home, found a second child there, and took both children to Children’s of Alabama Hospital for evaluation. The children were described in reports as being of elementary school age. Investigators said the public call, the children’s condition and what officers heard at the scene turned the matter from a welfare check into a criminal inquiry within hours.
Police and court records made public afterward filled in more of the allegation. Local television reports said both children told officers their mother had sprayed them in the face. One child later said in an interview that the spray hit the left eye, right eye and mouth. During the investigation, detectives executed a search warrant at the home and found a canister of bear spray that authorities believe was used in the incident. Authorities have not publicly described the full extent of the children’s injuries, how long they stayed at the hospital, or whether either child needed follow-up treatment. They also have not said whether anyone else was inside the home when the spray was used. Williams’ public jail record lists the offense date as March 8. The record does not provide a narrative from her or identify a court date.
The allegation stands out in part because bear spray is not designed for use on people. Federal materials describe it as a pesticide-regulated defense product for animal encounters, and those materials say bear sprays typically produce a wider fog-like cloud and travel farther than many self-defense pepper sprays. Federal documents also warn that close-range exposure can strongly irritate the eyes, nose and skin and may cause serious eye injury. Alabama’s child-abuse law makes it a felony for a responsible person to torture, willfully abuse, cruelly beat or otherwise willfully maltreat a child under 18. That legal backdrop matters in this case because prosecutors do not need a public allegation of a weapon meant for human self-defense; the question is whether the conduct described by police amounts to willful maltreatment of a child. Investigators have not announced any additional counts beyond the single child-abuse charge now listed in public records.
The timeline in the public record shows a gap of several weeks between the reported incident and the arrest. WBRC reported that detectives obtained a warrant April 2. Jefferson County jail records show Williams was booked April 6 at 4:10 p.m. by Leeds police and released that same evening at 6:48 p.m. after posting a $15,000 good bond. The same jail record lists the charge as torture or willful abuse of a child and shows no court date. That usually means only that a hearing date was not displayed in the jail system at the time of review, not that the case has ended. Police have also said the investigation remains open. Irwin told local media that both children are no longer in Williams’ custody and are with the Alabama Department of Human Resources. Authorities have not publicly identified any lawyer speaking for Williams, and no plea appears in the jail material.
What has emerged publicly so far is a narrow but vivid account of a neighborhood emergency that moved quickly into the hands of police, hospital staff and child-welfare workers. The setting was an ordinary residential block, and the first alarm came not from investigators but from someone who saw a child in distress outdoors. Irwin later praised the officers and detectives who handled the case, saying they did a “thorough investigation.” He also spoke more broadly about the allegation itself, calling it terrible in remarks carried by local outlets and saying a spray designed to stop a bear should not be used to punish children. That reaction, along with the decision to place the children outside the home, underscored how seriously authorities viewed the report. Even so, major facts remain unknown in public: investigators have not said what led up to the alleged spraying, whether the children gave matching accounts in every detail, or when prosecutors expect the next formal court step.
As of April 13, Williams is no longer in jail, the children remain out of her custody, and Leeds police say the case is still under investigation. The next public milestone is likely a court appearance or filing date, though none was listed in the jail record reviewed for this story.
Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.