Olive Garden Waitress Saves Children From Allegedly Abusive Parents

A 21-year-old Olive Garden waitress in Kentucky is being credited with saving two children from their allegedly abusive parents.

Jordan Cooper was waiting tables Sunday night at the Olive Garden in Paducah, Kentucky, when a family came in - a man, a woman, their 11-year-old girl, and a 20-month-old baby.

Cooper told news station WPSD that she got a bad feeling about the family when she saw the toddler was sitting in a highchair with a blanket over her head. When the blanket was removed, Cooper saw that the 20-month-old's face was covered in black-and-blue bruises.

“I can’t even describe to you how bad she looked and how and why nobody noticed it,” Cooper said.

The man was also acting aggressively toward the child, shoving breadsticks into her mouth, saying 'You'd better eat this' and got in her face, Cooper said.

Cooper, who is eight months pregnant herself, alerted her co-workers, one of whom snapped a photo of the family while she was taking a group shot of her table. When the adults at her table became suspicious, they asked for the check. She says she followed the couple outside and took a photo of their car and wrote down the license plate number and called the Department of Children and Family Services as well as 911.

Returning home after her shift, Cooper says she couldn't get the children out of her head and shared the photo of the little girl and the couple at her table, asking for help to track them down.

The Facebook post quickly went viral, and was shared more than 14,000 times. One of Cooper's friends who works as a 911 operator, tracked the couple down, and forwarded the information along to the Paris Police Department in Tennessee, where the couple lives.

Police went to the address to do a welfare check on the family and police found the baby sleeping in a Pack and Play in the couple's bedroom. One officer noticed bruising that ran from her jawline to her hairline. The couple, identified as Mark Lee Pierce, 33, and Jessica Woodworth, 36, of Paris, were arrested on charges of child abuse and aggravated assault. Pierce and Woodworth were both booked into Henry County jail on bond of $200,000 each.

The 20-month-old was taken to the emergency room for treatment of her injuries and later brought into DCS custody along with her 11-year-old sister.

Photo: Paris Police Department