LEXINGTON, S.C. – Lexington County deputies have arrested three women in connection to a child abuse investigation at a child care center.
Shayna Nicole McKnight, 36, is charged with infliction of great bodily harm upon a child, according to an arrest warrant. Amy Marie Grice, 38, and Jeannie H. Locklear, 49, are charged with obstructing justice.
“This case started last month with a call to a child’s mother from Windsor Academy in Lexington,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. “The daycare told the mother her child’s leg was hurt in the railing of a crib.”
Doctors determined the child had a broken leg, according to Koon.
“As part of our work on the investigation, detectives asked to review video from inside Windsor Academy,” Koon said. “Grice and Locklear told us the camera system wasn’t working when the child was injured. We eventually recovered the video and determined both women took steps to delete the video after they watched it. Those actions prompted the obstructing justice charges.”
The recovered video shows McKnight forcefully folded the child’s legs under the child’s body and flipped the child into a crib while holding the child’s left leg, according to an arrest warrant.
“Based on detectives’ review of the video, the child was crawling and playing without any visible pain before the incident, then crying and unable to put weight on the leg after the incident,” Koon said.
Deputies arrested McKnight, Grice and Locklear Friday morning. They are being held in the Lexington County Detention Center.
Koon said the South Carolina Department of Social Services is assisting with the investigation.