Newtown Preschool Employee Charged With Endangering Welfare Of Children

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — A preschool employee from Newtown Borough has been charged with endangering the welfare of children and simple assault for her "rough" handling of a 2-year-old boy in July.

On July 24, the Newtown Township Police Department received a Childline report of suspected child abuse at the Newtown Discovery Preschool located on Blacksmith Road. The report, which was initiated by the school, was for an incident that happened earlier that day involving a two-year-old boy and 27-year-old employee, Erin Elizabeth Burke, of Newtown.

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The report said that the boy had sustained two scratches on the right side of his neck, a scratch and abrasion to the back of the right arm and two scratches to the upper bicep of the left arm. Photos of the injuries were later provided to police by the boy's mother.

According to court documents, Burke self-reported the incident to the school's management following the incident resulting in a review of security footage and the filing of the Childline report. After reviewing the security footage, school administrators sent Burke home.

The school provided investigators with written statements by Burke and a teacher who had witnessed the incident. They also provided police with security footage.

According to court documents, the security footage shows Burke attempting to change the clothes of a crying two-year-old boy and becoming agitated. Burke picked the child up and moved him across the classroom where she dropped him face down onto a cushioned mat from six inches in the air, court documents say.

Investigators said Burke then moved half way across the room in an agitated manner before returning 25 seconds later. She then moved the boy, again placing him face down and then forcefully pushing the child's face into a pillow before picking him back up eight seconds later and placing him face up on the mat.

The video shows Burke, "in a clearly agitated manner," aggressively trying to dress the boy. Once finished, Burke retuned the boy to the carpet area where the rest of the class was seated. She then gathered her backpack and a bag of clothing and left the room, court documents say.

"It is unclear when the injuries were sustained due to Burke not taking notice of the injuries and due to the multiple instances of these areas of the child being contacted in a rough manner," said court documents.

In an interview with detectives, Burke told investigators she lost her cool and handled the situation in a very poor way. She also told investigators that she was frustrated that the child was crying. She also agreed with detectives that her actions were too rough, court documents said.

Following an investigation by the Newtown Township Police Department's Detective Division, police charged Burke on August 6 with endangering the welfare of children, a third-degree felony, and simple assault.