Horrifying video footage emerged this week showing the moment an employee viciously assaulted a helpless autistic child inside an autism center in Burnsville, Minnesota.
The video shows the three-year-old boy at Sunrise Autism Center playing in the corner before the employee suddenly approaches him. She grabs the child by his shoulder and shoves him to the floor.
The woman then shoves the kid down again when he tries to get up. The child lands on his back and starts screaming in pain.
The assault ends with the woman lifting the boy with both hands and throwing him to the floor.
WATCH:
JUST IN: Sunrise Autism Center employee charged with assaulting a 3-year-old boy during her *first* shift where she was allowed to be unsupervised.
25-year-old Arianna Williams was recorded assaulting a child in Minneapolis.
Williams defended herself, saying she was just… pic.twitter.com/lCHhBBFZqY
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 3, 2024
WCCO on Thursday identified, the perpetrator in the video as 25-year-old Arianna Williams. She has been charged with malicious punishment of a child.
Farhiya, the little boy’s mother, spoke with WCCO in Somali following the incident. She told the network she cried and screamed when she first saw the video.
The mom, who is Somali-American, explained that her son was diagnosed with autism last year, and she hoped that enrolling him in the center for a week would get him the speech and occupational therapy he needed. She said her son could not tell her what happened and called Williams heartless.
“You would think she doesn’t have a heart,” Farhiya said in Somali.
Sunrise Autism Center told WCCO they fired Williams immediately and called the police. Charging documents say Williams was a new hire at the center.
Charging documents also show that the incident was on the first day Williams was allowed with children unsupervised. After being fired, Williams reportedly sent a text to a co-worker, claiming “I’d never purposely hurt anyone I was just having a really bad start to the week.”
WCCO reports Williams is scheduled to next appear in court on June 20.
