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Server saves 11-year-old boy after noticing family refused him food at restaurant

The quick-thinking server also spotted bruises on the child's face and wrists.
/ Source: TODAY

A server in Florida helped rescue an 11-year-old boy from his parents who had allegedly been abusing him.

Flavaine Carvalho, a restaurant manager at Mrs. Potato Restaurant in Orlando, called 911 after noticing bruises on a young boy who was at the restaurant with his family, Carvalho revealed in a video released Thursday on the Orlando Police Department's social media pages.

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The boy's mother, Kristen Swann, and stepfather, Timothy Wilson II, took him and his younger sister to the restaurant for dinner on New Year's Day.

Carvalho grew concerned when she noticed the parents wouldn't allow their son to eat any of the food the family ordered. "When the order came to the table, I observed that the boy was denied food. That was the first thing that (got) my attention," Carvalho said.

Carvalho asked the boy's parents if anything was wrong with the food. They responded by telling her the boy would eat his dinner at home.

"This was super strange to me," she recalled.

Carvalho noticed a "big scratch" on the boy's forehead as well as other bruises on his body.

"I started observing them and I could (see) that he was super quiet and sad," recalled Carvalho.

The server devised a plan to discreetly hold up handwritten signs behind the boy's parents. One sign asked the boy, "Do you need help?" After seeing the note, the boy signaled "Yes."

"I went to the back of the restaurant and called 911," Carvalho said.

When police arrived, they initially arrested Wilson on one count of third-degree child abuse. Later, the boy recounted more stories of abuse to detectives, which led to Wilson's second arrest on Jan. 6.

Wilson has since been charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse and child neglect. Swann was also arrested on Jan. 6 and charged with two counts of child neglect.

Carvalho told WESH, an NBC affiliate in Orlando, that she is not the hero of the story — the young boy is.

"I would like to give him a big hug and tell him that I'm so proud of him," she said.