HENDERSON (KTNV) — A Henderson daycare center is facing a lawsuit after a 5-year-old girl allegedly suffered a severe injury at the hands of a staff member, with surveillance video raising questions about the facility's response to the incident.
Henderson single mother Breann Barnard said she was already struggling with the guilt of putting her children in daycare so she could work. But just a few months after enrolling her daughter at The Magic of Learning on Horizon Drive, she found herself in an emergency room with her child and now at the center of a lawsuit.
"I was distraught. For months," Barnard said.
The lawsuit accuses the daycare of negligence, assault and battery, child abuse and neglect, and failure to report injury to a child.
"And it tore me to shreds... to shreds... that I put my children in that environment."
WATCH | Darcy Spears investigates alleged child injury by staff member at Henderson daycare
The incident
In November 2024, just three and a half months after enrolling her children, Barnard said something went terribly wrong.
"I was just going to do my routine pick-up and I could hear the screams from inside my car," Barnard said.
When she got inside, she found her 5-year-old daughter Arabella at the front desk, crying and cradling her left arm.
"She would not move her arm. She couldn't," Barnard said.
Barnard said she kept asking staff what happened, but received conflicting stories.
"They told me that she bumped it on a filing cabinet. Or the chair. There were so many different stories that I was being told," Barnard said. "And Arabella immediately told me no, that Mr. Bernard was the one who hurt her arm."
Surveillance video reveals details
The daycare is equipped with multiple cameras, but Barnard didn't see any video until months after the incident. The center wouldn't show her any footage or provide a copy until she hired attorney Al Lasso.
"Once I saw that video, and based on that video, I believe that what they did was not only unacceptable but unlawful," Lasso said.
In the surveillance video, Bella can be seen in the reception area with multiple staff members. She climbs on and under the desk and plays with office equipment, including a stapler.
Another child comes behind the desk, grabs a tablet and falls to the ground trying to sit in a staff member's chair as it rolls away. You can see in the video that no one pays attention to him laying on the floor as they continue to work around him. He gets up on his own and collects his belongings about 40 seconds later.
"I think anyone who views that video will come to the conclusion that it's run like a zoo," Lasso said.
At 4:08 p.m., Bernard Randle, a staff member identified in the lawsuit as Mr. Bernard, approaches the front desk. Bella backs away as he rounds the corner.
"Come on, let's go. We gotta go. You can't stay up here," Randle said on the surveillance video.
As Randle tries to get her up, Bella begins to scream and cradle her arm.
An employee identified in court records as Sequoia Benson-Scofield intervenes, saying: "I'll help you Mr. Bernard. I'll help you. I'll help you. I'll get her. I'm gonna just pick her up and take her outside. Nothing happened to her arm."
"I'll vouch for him. I'll vouch for him," another staff member says.
Though Bella is clearly in pain, staff members continue handling her arm and dismissing her reaction.
"Don't be overdramatic, baby," one staff member said.
Staff members also attempted to change Bella's story about what happened.
"So, where did you hit your arm at over there?" Benson-Scofield asked.
"I didn't hit it!" Bella replied.
"So, what happened?" Benson-Scofield asked.
"Mr. Bernard did it!" Bella said.
Benson-Scofield changed her own story several times during the incident, according to the video, first saying Bella hit her own arm, then saying Bella got hit, then claiming, "I didn't see it."
Though Bella continues to scream in pain, they keep handling her arm. "I don't see anything," Benson-Scofield says. "I think it's a fake."
"Yes, the cover-up is bad. But what they put the little girl through while they're getting their story straight! That's the worst part because in my opinion, it appears she's being tortured!" Lasso said.
Fifteen minutes after the incident, one staffer handed 5-year-old Bella an ice pack to hold on her own arm. While Bella cried alone in a chair, staff continued with business as usual, emptying trash and vacuuming around her.
"Usually as a child you expect the adults are there to help you and to comfort you and to get you the care you need. It was just the opposite in this case," Lasso said.
Medical findings and investigation
According to the lawsuit, no one from The Magic of Learning called Barnard to tell her Bella was hurt or wrote up an accident report. When Barnard arrived for regular pickup, nearly 40 minutes after the incident, "I raced out of there and took her straight to the emergency room."
Medical records from St. Rose Hospital show Bella's elbow had been dislocated. Barnard said doctors told her it required significant force.
"Someone had to really aggressively do something for a child's elbow to come out the way that it did," Barnard said.
Facility's response and regulatory issues
I reached out to Tom and Tess Kelly, the owner and director of The Magic of Learning, asking for interviews with them and other staff who were involved. No one would speak on camera or make any comment for this story. I spoke separately to Bernard Randle and Sequoia Benson-Scofield on the phone, but they also declined comment.
13 Investigates obtained public records for this year and last year from the state's childcare licensing bureau. Records show The Magic of Learning reported just one injury from the requested time frame — in December, when a child suffered broken teeth after doing a backflip on the playground. Bella's injury was not documented in the records.
The state confirms the facility "did not report the incident" and says childcare licensing is now investigating.
State records also show eight complaints filed against The Magic of Learning since January 2024. The only substantiated complaints were for being out of ratio several times, meaning too few staff members in charge of too many children.
A complaint filed in October 2024, one month before Bella's injury, alleged that a staff member "picked up a child by the hands and wrists." That complaint was not substantiated.
Henderson Police also have an open investigation into the incident.
"It's hard for me to trust other people with my kids now," Barnard said.
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