Day care workers charged after kids’ ‘fight club’ video surfaces
Two daycare workers in Missouri are facing felony charges after an outraged mom shared shocking footage of them running an alleged “fight club” with children as young as 3.
Mickala Guliford, 28, and Tena Dailey, 22, were charged Saturday with endangering the welfare of a child — two years after the alleged incident took place. Both are due to appear in court on Dec. 3.
The charges were filed just a few weeks after Nicole Merseal shared a video of brawling that involved her 4-year-old son. Merseal sued Adventure Learning Center in St. Louis over the December 2016 incident, claiming Guliford and Dailey egged on the fights.
Both teachers were arrested and lost their jobs, but neither of them faced charges until Merseal spoke out publicly in the last few weeks.
Just a week ago, a spokeswoman for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office told the AP that charges would not be filed due to “insufficient evidence.” But on Monday, the spokesperson said they were able to obtain the additional evidence needed to charge the teachers.
“It makes me happy. That’s exactly what we were hoping. That’s the reason why we brought this to the media,” Merseal told Fox 2 Now. “We were wanting them to take a second look at this because I don’t feel like there was any punishment.”
Video of the alleged fight club, filmed by Merseal’s 10-year-old son, shows both Guliford and Dailey encouraging kids to wrestle each other to the floor with giant “hulk hands.” One 4-year-old child reportedly suffered a black eye, red marks and facial swelling after being made to fight, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Merseal’s older son first saw the fighting from the window of an adjacent classroom. After noticing his little brother was in tears, he pounded on the glass and told the teachers to stop, according to Merseal’s lawsuit.
He filmed the fighting with his iPad and texted it to his mom, who called the preschool director and demanded she stop the fighting immediately, the suit claims.
Following the incident, Guliford admitted she encouraged the kids to wrestle, but said she meant it to be a “stress release exercise.”
Merseal is one of two mothers suing the Adventure Learning Center. She is seeking $25,000 in damages.
“Ms. Merseal is humbled by the strong support of the St. Louis community in wanting justice for the kids at Adventure Learning Center who were forced to fight each other that day,” Merseal’s lawyer, Jennifer Hansen, told the Post-Dispatch in an email.
“Ms. Merseal remains hopeful that the state agencies in charge of supervising and subsidizing Adventure Learning Center will finally hold the day care accountable, too.”