Daycare parents sue after children allegedly abused on camera
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – According to Missouri childcare regulators, what occurred at a daycare to a three and four-year-old brother and sister is captured on video. The children’s mother, Diona Harrold, did not know the extent of what investigators would find.
The case involves A Brighter Future Childcare and Development Center, Inc. on Chambers Road. The Missouri Office of Childhood Inspectors documented video evidence in a 15-page report that lawyer Chris Finney has now acted on.
“What we saw in there was alarming,” Finney said.
Finney’s lawsuit alleges the video shows “the primary caregiver repeatedly threatening and hitting several children with a paint stirrer stick” along with allegations of “dragging…slinging (a child) to the ground” and “hitting (Harrold’s son) in the face with her hand multiple times before taking him by the arm and aggressively flipping him over.”
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Finney added, “There’s more than just the two children that we represent involved.”
The video is not yet public, as it is also part of a St. Louis County Police investigation.
Harrold told FOX 2 in March that officers responded immediately when she said she noticed marks on her son’s face.
“They met us at the hospital. They questioned me and (my) mom,” she said in March.
The center did not respond to two previous visits, FOX 2 returned Tuesday to ask for a comment about the lawsuit. Someone who answered the door said the director was not there but would get back to us. We also called the daycare attorney, asking for a comment.
Attorney Finney recommends parents check their centers.
“You absolutely should look these reports up. They’re publicly available. You can go to the website for the state and you can look them up and you can look up your specific entity that you’re thinking about or have sent your children to,” he said.
To check your childcare center in Missouri, click here. For Illinois centers, click here.
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