A shopworker was caught on CCTV violently shoving a boy who had been "annoying" him against a supermarket shelf.
The blond boy, believed to be aged about nine and wearing a "Boss" T-shirt, had been seen close to the worker at the Co-op store in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
The CCTV footage shows the man push the boy hard with his hand, propelling him into the shelving unit behind and knocking him off his feet.
During the clip, which appears to have been filmed from the store's security camera, a man can be heard saying: "Little b*****d".
The incident is understood to have happened on Tuesday, August 7 last year when temperatures in the area hit 27 degrees and tempers appear to have frayed.
The footage has only now emerged on social media and was posted to Sam Smith's Twitter page with the caption: “Think this might be why Miles got sacked.”
A boy can be seen walking up to the Co-op worker whilst down the bread aisle in the shop. He appears to punch the co-op employee in the stomach, who is clearly annoyed by this act.
Suddenly the shelf stacker decides to reach out to the boy and push him just below his neck.
The boy then falls back onto the bread shelves and crashes to the ground.
The boy then gets up and appears to say something back at the employee before the clip ends.
Today a Co-op insider, who asked not to be named, said: “The child had been annoying him for some time.”
Co-op has confirmed the video recorded showed a “former colleague” who no longer works there.
A spokesman said:“Co-op does not condone this behaviour, and immediately looked into the matter.
"The colleague left of his own accord.”