Photo: Getty Images
A Missouri mother has sued a St. Louis day care center, alleging her preschool-aged son was traumatized nearly two years ago when two former employees forced him to fight another boy while both children were wearing bulky, hard-plastic gloves.
The footage then shows the other preschooler repeatedly strike the child on the floor.
In the video, at least one of the children in the room, watching the fight, goes to stop it, but is unable to get between the two boys.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Merseal’s lawsuit claims her son suffered physical injuries as a result of the fight, and continues to endure “mental harm” because of the teachers’ “wanton, willful and outrageous” actions.
PEOPLE tried but was unable to reach a representative from the day care center for comment. Similar efforts were made unsuccessfully to track down Guliford and Dailey.
PEOPLE was provided with court documents that suggest the fights were staged between a number of children over a 30-minute period.
Police did investigate the matter, speaking to both teachers, who allegedly admitted they did encourage the children to fight. The court documents state that Guliford allegedly told police the fighting was meant “to be a stress release exercise” for the children, who she claimed “were bored.”
In addition, the documents allege Guliford said to police she and Dailey “ran out of things to do” with the children left in their charge.
A statement from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office claims the case against the two women was not prosecutable.
The lawsuit is still pending before a judge.
source: people.com
