Calgary police investigate apparent child abuse caught on Twitch livestream

Gamer the target of an abuse investigation Watch: A Calgary woman is under investigation following an online video of her allegedly harming her kids. Tyson Fedor reports.

Calgary — The Calgary Police Service's Child Abuse Unit is investigating a livestreamed video that online viewers say involves a baby being physically abused.

The clip, that went online through the service called Twitch, shows a woman becoming aggressive with an infant, who appears to be no more than a year old.

The woman is seen throwing the baby on the bed multiple times and, at one point, it appears the woman bites the arm of the child.

A description of the video, which has already been removed, indicates the woman was upset because the child was interrupting her game of Fortnite.

Police say they are aware of the existence of the video and understand the suspect lives in Calgary. As a result, they are conducting an investigation.

Dr. Tom Keenan, a computer expert at the University of Calgary, says technology has progressed to the point where everything can be broadcast to a large audience very quickly.

"It's just as if this woman was doing what she was doing and her front door was open and somebody walked by and saw that and decided it wasn’t appropriate," he said. "I can say that if I walked by a house and saw something going on like that, I’d probably be inclined to call the police."

Keenan says hundreds of thousands of people are on Twitch at any given time.

"They are probably not thinking about what’s going on in the background, or what can be seen," he said. "What you got to know is that everything you do out there is public, it’s available."

CTV News has reached out to the woman in the video for comment, but has yet to receive a response.

Police say they had received numerous tips from the public through the Crime Stoppers hotline and plan to speak with the woman as it is still an open investigation.