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Disturbing surveillance footage shows a psychiatric worker dragging a 13-year-old boy across a floor by his shirt wrapped around his neck at a Virginia residential treatment facility. The video is expected to be key evidence in a civil trial beginning Tuesday (February 11).
Michelle Yates, a former employee of the Grafton School in Berryville, Virginia, is being sued alongside her former employer in a case that alleges both physical abuse and tampering with evidence. The lawsuit claims Yates not only mistreated the teenage resident but that surveillance footage of the incident was later erased.
The boy's parent shared the video with The Winchester Gazette, which shows the worker dragging the child across a dorm room floor.
"Families place their children in facilities like Grafton expecting their safety to be protected. This case raises serious questions about staff conduct and how the facility responded after the incident," Gray Broughton, managing partner of Gray Broughton Injury Law, told the Gazette.
The Grafton School is a psychiatric residential treatment facility that specializes in caring for children with behavioral and mental health needs. Part of its stated mission is to help children recover from trauma and succeed in the community.
The civil lawsuit against both Yates and the Grafton School is scheduled to proceed in Winchester Circuit Court, where both parties will have to answer to the allegations of abuse and evidence tampering.