Mother accused of spraying her 2 young children with bear spray

LEEDS, Ala. (WBRC/Gray News) — A mother in Alabama is accused of spraying her children with bear spray.

Leeds police said that on March 8, officers were called to the area for reports of a small child running down the street yelling for help.

According to police, the 911 caller said the child’s face was puffy and their eyes were red.

Responding officers took two small children to Children’s Hospital because both children claimed their mother sprayed them in the face with bear spray.

Their mother was identified as Christie Lashay Williams, 37.

Police said one of the children later told officers that Williams sprayed them in both eyes and in the mouth.

Court records show Williams was arrested Monday. She is charged with child abuse/torture, a class C felony that carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

She has since bonded out of the Jefferson County Jail.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulates bear sprays as pesticides, and they are designed to be more potent than self-defense pepper sprays.

The agency said bear sprays come out in a cloud, rather than a stream, and can reach distances up to 40 feet.