ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Disturbing videos inside a classroom at Brighter Future Childcare and Development Center, Inc. on Chambers Road may have never been revealed if it weren’t for Diona Harrold.
Last month, FOX 2 reported on Harrold’s concern about her son having a knot on his forehead and a gash over his eyebrow.
A newly released 15-page report from the Missouri Office of Childhood provides answers with classroom video.
The video reportedly reveals other children struck with a paint stirrer, according to the report.
Examples include a three-year-old girl “hit with a paint stirrer on the left arm, causing her to cower to the ground” and a three-year-old boy “hit with a paint stirrer on the right side of his face.”
Harrold’s child reportedly got his bump after the report says a different worker “hit him in the face with her hands” and also “aggressively flipped him over onto his cot,” which is where an inspector noted seeing the cot hit the child’s head.
“What stands out as most heartbreaking is the children involved, especially the one who has autism, who is non-verbal and who cannot say what’s happened,” Chris Finney, Harrold’s trial attorney, said.
Finney says his clients attentiveness helped other parents and children.
“At a place like this that is understaffed…leaving children unattended, having unqualified people working there—this is a recipe for disaster—and it takes parents standing up,” he said.
St. Louis County Police are continuing to investigate potential criminal violations. FOX 2 tried to reach the daycare by phone and by visiting in person, but nobody answered, despite people inside the building.
The inspection report indicates the director suspended the two workers, with intentions to fire them and that the facility would be closed until the director could hire new staff.
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