Lexington County Daycare Worker Charged With More Alleged Abuse of Infants

Posted 7/28/22

Additional charges have been made against an employee at a local daycare accused of inflicting a spinal fracture on a 10-month-old.

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Lexington County Daycare Worker Charged With More Alleged Abuse of Infants

Posted

Additional charges have been made against a former employee at a local daycare previously accused of inflicting a spinal fracture on a 10-month-old.

Shayna Nicole McKnight, 36, was one of three employees of Windsor Academy to be arrested in late-April following a March incident with an injured infant. On July 28, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department announced new charges stemming from what it says are five separate incidents at the daycare located at 952 Old Cherokee Rd. in Lexington County.

“More abuse cases associated with Windsor Academy came to light after we announced the arrests of McKnight and two other employees in April,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon is quoted in a release. “As detectives reviewed security cam footage, McKnight can be seen putting children at unreasonable risk of harm due to her actions on five separate occasions in March.”

According to the release, the footage showed McKnight “swaddl[ing] infants and position[ing] them so they were unable to move in a crib and on the floor.” 

“Detectives said McKnight would then leave the infants unattended,” the release states.

“McKnight can also be seen on security cam footage pushing and striking children, and pulling the hair of an infant,” Koon is quoted.

She was arrested July 28 and taken to the Lexington County Detention Center, charged with three counts of cruelty to children and two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child. 

Arrest warrants provided to the Chronicle offer further detail on her alleged actions:

    • McKnight is accused of inflicting unnecessary pain on an 8-month-old on March 9, with warrants stating that she grabbed him by the arm and “forcefully push[ed] ... him into the side of a highchair while yelling at him causing the child to immediately start to cry.” The warrants parenthetically described the push as a “slam.”
      “She then continue[d] to scream in the childs face while pointing her finger in his face as the infant continue[d] to cry,” warrants state.
    • McKnight is accused of inflicting unnecessary pain on a 7-month-old on March 7, with warrants stating she “grab[bed] the child by the hair and pull[ed] the childs hair causing the child to immediately start to cry.”
      “She then moved the child to a separate play area and displayed her actions toward other staff members by showing them that she pulled the child’s hair,” warrants state.
    • McKnight is accused of inflicting unnecessary pain on an 11-month-old on March 1, with warrants stating that she “str[uck] the child on the head with an object causing the child to immediately start to cry.”
      “She then put the object into the childs mouth as the infant was crying,” warrants state.
    • McKnight is accused of swaddling a 10-month-old such that he was unable to move on March 11.
      She “place[d] him face down into the carpet and then face down into a crib, she then held the child in the air displaying to other employees that the child was unable to move,” warrants state, going on to describe that she “placed the infant into a crib face down before forcefully turning his head and intertwin[ing] a blanket through the legs of the child preventing the infant from movement and left him unattended for over 2 hours.”
    • McKnight is accused of swaddling a 7-month-old such that he was unable to move on March 8.
      She placed “him into a crib, position[ed] a nursing ‘boppy’ pillow on top of the infant so that he could not roll over and intertwine[d] a blanket through the legs of the child preventing the infant from movement and left him unattended,” warrants state.

She was previously charged with infliction of great bodily harm upon a child following the alleged abuse of a 10-month-old on March 11.

In the March incident, McKnight “forcefully folded the child's legs under the child and did intentionally with malice & force flip the child into the crib while holding the child by the left leg. Footage shows that prior to these acts the child was crawling and playing without visible pain & afterwards the child was crying & unable to bear weight on the leg which was also observed to be swelling,” according to arrest warrants.

Two other employees — Amy Marie Grice and Jeanie H. Locklear, then the director of Windsor Academy — were arrested in April for obstructing justice, accused of making false claims that the CCTV system at Windsor House wasn’t functioning at the time of the incident.

All three were terminated following their April arrests, Elaine Harkey, the owner of Windsor Academy and Windsor West in West Columbia, confirmed to the Chronicle.

Harkey didn’t immediately respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment about the new charges.

“I’m just shocked,” the owner said in April. “Nothing ever has happened that's been this bad. We've always had good reviews, parents love us. The director has been well loved by parents and everyone in general. And I'm devastated. I'm just sick about it. I would not ever want any harm to come to any child. Especially not while they're in my care."

A representative for the state Department of Social Services confirmed that Windsor Academy ceased operation on May 13.

This is a developing story and will continue to be updated.

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