Mississippi police arrested a daycare employee last week after she was allegedly filmed abusing a 3-year-old boy with autism.
Kierra Shavers, 24, is an employee at Faithfully Yours Learning Center Inc. in Gautier. The victim’s mother told the Sun-Herald that before Shavers’ arrest, she received two videos: the first showing Shavers hitting her toddler son in the face, and the other showing her kicking the boy and restaining him on the floor by wrapping her arms and legs around him.
The Sun-Herald reported that the victim is also nonverbal. According to the news outlet, another daycare worker filmed the damning videos — in which the toddler boy is seen raising his hands to shield himself from Shavers’ slaps.
“He was scared, and he couldn’t even tell me,” the victim’s mother said. “If this girl hadn’t gotten the videos, I wouldn’t know.”
The mother reported the incidents to police, leading Shavers to be charged with willful infliction of pain or injury of a vulnerable person. The daycare’s owner, Sarah York, told the Sun Herald that she immediately contacted authorities. York claimed she learned of the incidents “five minutes before the mother did.”
York said she fired Shavers after learning of the allegations. Records indicated that she remains jailed on a $25,0000 bond.
Meanwhile, the Sun Herald reported that York’s business has two previous state violations. In 2021, the daycare was fined for having too many children in its classroom and for not conducting monthly fire drills. State officials intervened after two toddlers were reportedly found walking unattended in the parking lot.
Despite this, York told the news outlet that the incident involving Shavers was “isolated.”
“We watch our cameras vigilantly,” she said.
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[Feature Photo: Jackson County jail]
