LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – It’s video obtained by the 8 News Now I-Team that a local daycare didn’t want you to see. To prevent us from showing you the video, an emergency motion was filed in court today. That effort failed.
When a child is dropped off at a daycare, parents and guardians have an expectation of safety and trust. But video shows that trust being violated.
The I-Team’s Vanessa Murphy has this exclusive report of how one child was hurt. Parents shared their story you’ll only see here.
This video shows daycare worker Elicia Miller mishandling a 2-year-old boy.
While we don’t see what unfolds behind furniture, we do see the other children react.
“They know what pain looks like and sounds like, and he … he was in pain,” the child’s father said.
The child’s parents have asked for their family’s identity to be protected.
“I’ve never heard him cry like that,” the father said.
Hours later, the parents learned their son’s leg was broken. The family provided an x-ray to the I-Team.
“He would shriek in a pitch that would break your heart,” the child’s mother said.
Now they are suing Creme de la Creme daycare and Elicia Miller for negligence and abuse.
Attorney Adam Ellis of Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi LLP, who is representing the parents, said the daycare failed to properly address what unfolded from the start.
“If the investigation were different and cameras were reviewed and there were statements taken and taken more seriously and objectively, I think everyone would have realized this was a far more serious situation than they thought it was,” Ellis said.
He said the daycare delayed getting the child the immediate medical care he needed. No paramedics were called. Instead, the father said he received a call to come pick up his son.
“… said that he had basically been pushed by another child and wouldn’t stop crying and that we needed — I needed — to come pick him up,” the father said.
He said he was provided a document stating the teacher sat his son down next to the changing table after another child pushed him. He found his son with an ice pack, took him to an urgent care, and was told to take him to the emergency room.
“It wasn’t until the orthopedic surgeon at the facility said that rarely in these situations does it occur from an accident,” the mother said.
The parents said they were questioned by medical staff, and then child protective services was called. That’s when the dad says he reached out to the daycare demanding to see video. He says when he returned, he was only shown this 19-second clip.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” the father said. “The fact that she aggressively threw him and he he was just standing there. He wasn’t doing anything.”
He said that’s when he also learned the daycare worker was fired and Metro police were called.
This all unfolded on May 12, 2021.
On June 3, Miller was charged with child abuse. She agreed to a deal where she pleads guilty to attempted child abuse and gets probation, and completes 50 hours of community service and an anger management class. Plus, she pays restitution.
“What they’re proposing is insulting. I particularly struggle with seeing the word attempted child abuse. That word just angers me,” the mother said.
Miller is scheduled to be sentenced on March 14.
The 8 News Now I-Team tried talking with Miller after a recent court appearance. She had no comment. But the dad recalls what she said as he put his son into his car on May 12.
“She like profusely, apologized. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ as she was walking by as I’m loading him in. And I … I just kind of brushed it off like, you know, like, I need … I need to go. I need to take care of him,” the father said.
For their son, they say it’s been a long road with surgery, casts, re-learning to walk, not speaking for a while after the incident, PTSD and behavioral changes.
They said this incident affected their child and themselves deeply.
“I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I want … I want our family back. I want to feel like I did a good job as a mother,” she said, crying. “That I fought for my son.”
The I-Team dug through state records and found the daycare was reprimanded because the staff member used “inappropriate discipline.” We also found more than 20 deficiencies listed since last April.
We reached out to Creme de la Creme and a representative sent a statement pointing out the teacher was immediately fired. And also saying that for 40 years, their No. 1 priority is the safety and security of the children in their care.
Curious about this daycare or another one? You can see records of complaints and other reports on a website at https://dpbh.nv.gov/Reg/ChildCare/dta/Media/Find_Child_Care/ Use the pop-up menu for “Business unit” to select “Child Care Program,” and for “Entity type” select “Agency” before searching for a specific business name.