HAGER HILL, Ky. — A Johnson County woman is in jail, charged with a misdemeanor count of child abuse.

Police were called to a home on Bear Hollow, after a neighbor reported seeing a boy running from the residence with no shirt or shoes, screaming that he was being beaten.

When officers arrived, they encountered the child’s mother, Cassandra Sammons, 30, who said her child was out of control. Sammons told police her son was cussing at her and hitting her.

However, the boy told police that his mother sat on him and beat him. Sammons reportedly admitted doing so, saying it was the only way she could control him.

The officer noted bruises and scratches on the child’s back, neck and ears, with one bruise being in the shape of a belt.

Sammons reportedly said she didn’t mean to hit him in the back, but he was jumping around.

Sammons was arrested and charged with third-degree child abuse, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.