The grieving mother of a 3-year-old autistic and nonverbal boy has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Park Hills daycare, claiming that her son suffocated under an employee’s legs.
Tara Williams said that her son Conrad Ashcraft sustained “a fatal injury” due to the employee’s negligence after they put their legs on Conrad’s chest or abdomen to force him to sleep.
“[O]n information and belief, [Conrad] was killed and remained lying on the floor of Defendant’s facility for hours without any effort to determine his wellbeing,” the lawsuit alleged.
The toddler was nonverbal and couldn’t ask for help. Nap time at the daycare starts at 12:30 p.m., and Conrad’s mother found him dead on the floor, still where he was forced to sleep, at 4:15 p.m. on May 16.
“It’s not just one person or the owner, it’s everybody there who was witnessing the abuse and didn’t say anything,” the boy’s aunt said.
The daycare’s license has since been suspended as the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of Childhood continue their investigation.
