Allowing your child to venture out in the world without you for the first time is a milestone often met with a variety of emotions. While you may be happy for the reprieve, the thought of not knowing how people will treat your children when they’re no longer under your watchful eye can be nerve-wracking.
Thankfully, more day cares, schools, and other facilities are equipped with cameras these days, so you can see what’s happening even when you’re not there. One of these cameras appears to have caught a school employee in Ohio, being abusive to a 3-year-old boy.
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The video appears to show the school employee chase Braylen down before striking him in the back of his head.
Braylen Tootle, 3, was at Rosa Parks Early Learning Center in Dayton, Ohio, on August 21, when the violent incident — all captured on video — occurred. Braylen, a nonverbal special needs toddler, was running down the hallway, according to Inside Edition.
Behind him, a school employee chases him down. To stop the boy from running, the employee appears to strike Braylen in the back of his head, causing him to fall to the ground, sliding across the floor.
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Braylen's parents said the school was not transparent about the nature of the incident.
Having stopped him, the employee picks Braylen up by his ankles and carries him, upside down, out of the camera’s view. In a press conference, Braylen’s parents said that the learning center told them an incident had occurred that day in August, but the information was vague.
They made attempts to obtain the video of what happened. It took close to a month before it was in their possession. Child Protective Services provided them with the copy of what Braylen's mother describes as an assault.
'He wasn't doing anything wrong,' Braylen's mother said.
At a press conference, Braylen’s mother, Taneshia Lindsay, said: “He wasn’t doing anything wrong. You could have bear hugged him. You could have let another teacher do it. I don’t know what was going on in that man’s head, but my son did not deserve that.”
The man in the video has since resigned, but Braylen’s parents don’t believe that is enough. "They shouldn't have sent him home pending an investigation. He should have left that school in handcuffs. And that's why a lot of other parents are mad because, why hasn't he been arrested?" asked Lindsay.
"That is clearly assault on that video. That man should not have left that school, he should not be in society around other people's kids. We don't know what this man is doing. He should have been locked up."
The family is considering legal action.
Michael Wright, a lawyer for the family, says they are contemplating legal action. "For the Dayton Police Department, why has there not been an arrest?” Wright asked. "For the prosecutor's office, why has there not been any formal charges against this teacher's aide, paraprofessional? So we are requesting an arrest. We are requesting charges, and we are requesting that the Dayton public school system be transparent with this family."
For now, the family is not planning on removing Braylen from the school.
The interim superintendent for the Dayton Public Schools said in a statement that the district would implement additional measures to ensure “employees are properly trained and qualified for their positions in an effort to prevent such incident from occurring in the future.”
Braylen’s father, Robert Tootle, said he always feared sending his son to school because he’s nonverbal. Lindsay took the time out to understand Braylen’s likes and dislikes for the school so he could have a successful year. Sadly, her efforts didn’t prevent her son from being mistreated.
Still, the family has no plans of removing Braylen from the school. "He trusts his teacher. He goes with them willingly," Lindsay explained. "As long as they're respecting my child, I will continue to let him go to school."
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
