38-year-old Lexington County resident Shayna N. McKnight was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted on multiple counts of child abuse. She was also sentenced to five years to be served concurrently on two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.
McKnight was employed as a caregiver at the now-closed Windsor Academy. On March 11, 2022, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department was notified that an 11-month-old infant was being treated for a fractured tibia. The child’s mother said that the incident occurred at her child’s daycare and she was called to come take the child to the hospital, the press release read.
Upon seizing video footage from the daycare, investigators with the sheriff’s department said that McKnight had improperly picked up the victim from the floor with one arm and had also covered the victim’s mouth with a blanket for an extended period of time.
In addition to the incident above, on that same day, it was also discovered that McKnight had improperly restrained a nine-month-old infant by wrapping a blanket around their arms, legs and feet before placing the infant on their stomach to go to sleep, raising the risk of the baby suffocating or dying by aspiration.
Per South Carolina law, McKnight will not be eligible for parole. She will immediately begin serving out her sentence at the S.C. Department of Corrections.