Parents file $10 million lawsuit after alleged abuse at SUNY Cortland daycare

CORTLAND, N.Y. (WBNG) — Parents of a toddler enrolled at the SUNY Cortland Child Care Center filed a $10 million lawsuit against New York State following the arrests of four staff members on child endangerment charges.

Court documents published earlier this week identify the claimants as Eric Edlund and Jessica Carrick-Hagenbarth. The parents allege staff at the daycare abused and neglected their child and several others.

*Warning: This article contains graphic details of alleged child abuse.

The arrests

Four members of the child care center were arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child: teacher Heather Hurtreau, center director Kelsi Carlisle, director Karen Diescher and childcare provider Aimee Wyatt. Wyatt received an additional charge of criminal solicitation.

Court documents say Wyatt and Carlisle committed several acts of child abuse against the students they supervised between March 7 and April 14. Hurtreau and Diescher allegedly saw the acts and failed to make reports pursuant to Social Service Law.

Alleged incidents

The accusing documents detail several incidents referencing teachers yanking students by their arms, locking them in a bathroom, or restraining kids to the floor while they begged to stop.

The documents allege that on April 7, Wyatt directed children to repeatedly stomp on a three-year-old child for three minutes while they lay on the ground screaming for help.

The documents say that a week later, Wyatt yelled at a child, saying, “I hope you smack your head on that shelf. That’s what’s going to happen, and I am going to laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh.”

Later in the month, court documents state Carlisle denied a student access to a bathroom, telling him to defecate himself. The documents state that she also carried a student to a mat and dropped him to the floor from several feet as he screamed and cried.

According to the documents, Diescher and Hurtreau witnessed many of these acts but failed to notify parents or make a proper report.

License threatened

The child care center’s license currently faces threats of revocation from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services.

All four staff members were arraigned in Cortland City Court on Monday. They are scheduled to appear in court within the coming months.