‘I don’t see what they have to investigate anymore;’ says Dad of autistic boy hit at school

DAYTON — The parents of Braylen Tootle, the 3-year-old nonverbal autistic child who was knocked to the floor by a Dayton Public Schools employee a month ago, say their patience is wearing thin because of the seeming lack of movement in the investigation of the incident.

>> RELATED: Parents of nonverbal son demanding answers

The Rosa Parks Early Learning Center employee who hit Braylen in the back of the head and sent him sprawling on Aug. 21 no longer works for the center, but he has not been arrested or criminally charged.

The incident was captured on video, which wasn’t made available to the child’s parents until Sept. 11.

“A lot of people that see the video are commenting, ‘what investigation?’ " Braylen’s mother, Taneshia Lindsay, told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell. “We all see everything.”

She and Braylen’s father, Robert Tootle, are irritated that no one is in trouble for what happened.

“Yeah, I don’t understand what takes so long,” Robert Tootle said. “It’s obvious what you see on that video. It’s self explanatory. I don’t see what they have to investigate any more, it’s been a month.”

>> RELATED: Parents weigh in on what happened to nonverbal autistic child at Rosa Parks center

Robert and Taneshia said Braylen, who is no longer enrolled at the Rosa Parks center, continues to be evaluated by doctors for any problems that may result from the incident.

Both said they want the school to explain why the employee was allowed to resign, why he wasn’t fired, and why there has been a delay in a decision on criminal charges.

Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said his office has asked the Dayton Police Department for additional facts and that a final review by his offic could come at anytime.

“I’ve reviewed the tape, the video of this outrageous conduct,” Heck said. “We certainly want to charge with the appropriate type and level of offense.”

News Center 7 has repeated our request made to DPS nine days ago for the now former employee’s personnel file. The district responded to our renewed request by saying the request is being processed and reviewed by their law department.

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