Kaci Mitchell, one of the players who played softball with Loren Whaley, expressed her disbelief via Facebook about her child abuse charges.
A 29-year-old local softball player, Loren Whaley, was arrested by Knoxville police on Friday evening, October 3, 2025, and now faces a felony child abuse charge.
Whaley was taken under control after witnesses reported seeing her hit a 7-year-old boy in a South Knoxville parking lot.
At the moment, Whaley is charged with felony child abuse.
Reportedly, the incident happened around 7 p.m. in the parking lot of a Kroger store on Chapman Highway near West Young High Pike.
According to police reports, a witness saw Whaley pull the boy by his arm into a white car and then punch him twice in the face with a closed fist.
Similarly, another witness also confirmed the same story.
When officers arrived, they contacted and spoke with the child. At first, he was hesitant to talk about what happened and said it was nothing but a nosebleed.
Later, when asked if he had been hit, the boy pointed to the right side of his face and said he didn’t feel pain there.
Police noticed redness on his face and dried blood on his shorts and legs. Eventually, the boy told officers that Whaley had dragged him to the car and hit him in the face.
After the boy confessed to what happened, the officers approached Whaley. She was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car, washing her hands with a water bottle.
When asked what happened, she repeatedly said she needed to get her phone but didn’t explain her actions. Likewise, so far, it remains unclear how Whaley is related to the child.
Meanwhile, the boy was safely returned to his mother.
Whaley was taken to the Knox County Jail on Saturday, October 4, 2025, and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday morning, October 6, 2025.
In the Facebook post, Haley Gilland wrote:
I knew she looked familiar!! This is absolutely awful, makes me so sad for that child bc I’m sure they endured way more
Haley Gilland
