Lexington County preschool workers tried to cover up child abuse, deputies say
An employee of a Lexington County preschool is charged in a case of child abuse in which a child’s leg was broken, and two other employees are accused of trying to cover it up, according to a the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
The department charged 36-year-old Shayna Nicole McKnight with inflicting great bodily harm on a child. Amy Marie Grice, 38, and Jeannie H. Locklear, 49, were charged with obstructing justice. The three worked at Windsor Academy on Old Cherokee Road, according to the department.
Deputies opened a child abuse investigation in March after they were informed of possible abuse at the preschool, the department said.
In March, the mother of the child was called from the preschool and told her child’s leg was injured in the railing of a crib, according to Sheriff Jay Koon. A doctor determined the child’s leg was broken.
Investigators asked to review surveillance video inside the preschool, and Grice and Locklear told the investigators that the camera system wasn’t working when the child’s leg was hurt, Koon said in a statement. Investigators discovered that Grice and Locklear had “taken steps to delete the video after they watched it.”
Investigators recovered the video. In it, they saw McKnight “forcefully” folding the child’s legs under the child’s body and flipping the child into a crib by a leg, the department said.
“Based on detectives’ review of the video, the child was crawling and playing without any visible pain before the incident, then crying and unable to put weight on the leg after the incident,” Koon said.
The three women were arrested Friday morning. They were jailed at the Lexington County Detention Center, where they were awaiting bond hearings as of Friday afternoon.
The state Department of Social Services is helping in the investigation, Koon said.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 2:13 PM.