Overview
- Security footage from Destiny Development Center shows a classroom aide remove her shoe and throw it at a 5-year-old girl with autism, with two other adults present and one appearing to laugh.
- Director Danielle Williams says the aide and two staff who failed to report the incident were terminated, and that the video was provided to licensing officials.
- The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating, while the child’s mother says some staff were not dismissed immediately and that police told her the onlookers could not be charged.
- California’s Department of Social Services confirms an active review and records show eight prior citations since 2021, including a 2025 case where a child was left on a bus and reporting was delayed.
- Reports differ on whether the incident occurred Jan. 9 or Jan. 16, and the family is calling for arrests on child abuse and assault charges after protesters gathered outside the center on Friday.