INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - The state is investigating a day care center after video surfaced on social media Thursday showing what appears to be an employee from the center dragging a child off the playground by one arm.
The man who took the video says he recorded it while eating lunch across the street from La Petite Academy.
Several agencies, including the Department of Child Services and the state Family and Social Services Administration tell Eyewitness News they're investigating what they saw on that video. The day care says the employee involved is on administrative leave right now. Even so, the parents of the little boy involved, 3-year-old Damonte Brown, say they're at a crossroads about what's best for their family and if it involves La Petite Academy.
Damonte spent several hours in the emergency room Thursday night after his parents watched the video showing a day care employee from La Petite Academy dragging their son off the playground one arm. The video also shows the same employee using her knee to push into Damonte’s back to gain control as he struggles.
Damonte’s parents, Angel Bennett and Darrius Brown, say they first found about the video after the day care called them to say police and the Department of Child Services wanted to talk to Damonte.
“I never thought I would be in this situation but you can never put that past anybody or anyone because it could happen to any one of us,” Brown said.
Damonte is fine now. His parents, though, are the ones struggling, trying to decide if they need to find another day care.
“We both wish that one of us could stay at the house while the other one goes out to work, but it’s not possible for us to even make a living if one of us stays at home 24-7,” said Brown.
“We just don’t have that option or luxury,” the father of three added.
Now these parents are faced with finding another day care. Finding the right one though, they say, will take time.
“We had the conversation between us again, like this could happen anywhere at any time with any individual that works at any child care or day care center,” said Bennett.
The dilemma facing these parents now is how to trust it won’t happen to their child again.
The state launched a new online tool in September to help parents search for day care centers. It’s called “Child Care Finder.”
Eyewitness News used it to look into La Petite Academy’s history. A search of state records shows this isn’t the first time concerns have come up about how children are disciplined at this day care center. The center has had eight complaints since January 2014. Four of those involved claims a child was not disciplined in the right way.
Just last month, an inspection of the facility noted a caregiver using an “unusual form of discipline” with a child.
Records also show two employees were fired after two separate inspections. One in 2015, which noted “harsh discipline” with a child in the pre-k room. Another employee was let go in 2014, according to inspection reports, which noted “inappropriate discipline” with an infant and 2-year-old.
Damonte's parents say they knew nothing about the incidents. They wonder if they would have ever found out about what happened to Damonte if not for the man who recorded the video Thursday.
“At his age, we’re trying to know the difference of being safe and knowing when somebody is doing something wrong to you to tell. It took a few minutes for him to understand he was doing nothing wrong by telling on this person who he really liked,” said Bennett.
