A horrified Missouri mother is suing her sons’ former daycare center after two teachers hosted a ‘fight club’ and encouraged the toddlers to beat each other up.
Video has since emerged of the disturbing December 2016 incident, which shows children pounding each other to the ground while others break down in tears.
Nicole Merseal’s 10-year-old son filmed the horrific one-day ‘fight club’, which took place at the Adventure Learning Center in St Louis, on his iPad.
The 10-year-old was among the older children in the daycare’s next room. Some of them can be heard exclaiming ‘Oh my god’ when they see the younger kids fighting.
A horrified Missouri mother is suing her sons’ former daycare center after two teachers hosted a ‘fight club’ and encouraged the toddlers to beat each other up (pictured)
Video has since emerged of the disturbing December 2016 incident, which shows children pounding each other to the ground while others break down in tears
One clip shows a teacher jumping up and down in excitement as another puts a ‘Hulk Smash Hand’ – plush gloves inspired by the superhero – on each toddler’s hand.
A child can then be seen punching another boy in the face, pounding his head into the floor over and over again as a group of kids circle them and watch.
The only person who tries to break up the fight is another preschooler, but he is unable to pull his friends apart.
Merseal’s son filmed the video and texted it to his mother because he was worried about his four-year-old brother, who was crying after three fights.
‘He doesn’t understand why his friends were fighting him…why he was beaten up by his best friends,’ Merseal told KTVI. ‘And it was on his fourth birthday.’
Nicole Merseal’s 10-year-old son filmed the horrific ‘fight club’, which took place at the Adventure Learning Center in St Louis, on his iPad
A child can be seen punching another boy in the face, pounding the other’s head into the floor over and over again as a group of kids circle them and watch
The only person who tries to break up the fight is another preschooler, but he is unable to pull his friends apart
‘In the video, he’s wiping his face over and over again. The daycare worker – you see her walk over to him and tell him “You’re fine” and pat him on the back and then walk and start another fight with other kids.’
Merseal said her son texted her the video and said ‘the daycare was making them fight, not helping them’.
Daycare surveillance cameras also recorded at least 30 minutes of the ‘fight club’, showing brawl after brawl between toddlers.
Merseal immediately called the director of the daycare and the two employees were fired. The director also called the child abuse hotline.
Merseal said she is suing the school for $25,000 to hold the school accountable for the horrific toddler fight
Merseal’s son filmed the video and texted it to his mother because he was worried about his four-year-old brother (pictured), who was crying after three fights
The lead teacher later said they organized the fight club to try and entertain the children after the heater broke.
The St Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the daycare, which remains in operation today.
‘There was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any laws were violated,’ the St Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
‘However, that does not diminish the incredibly poor judgment by these adults who had the responsibility to safely supervise these children.’
Daycare surveillance cameras also recorded at least 30 minutes of the ‘fight club’, showing brawl after brawl
But inspections at the daycare were increased after the incident and, in the last two years, eight visits have turned up 26 new violations.
Just this March, a four-year-old child claimed a teacher at the daycare center ‘cussed at him, flicked him, grabbed him, and pushed him to the ground’.
That same month a caregiver was seen grabbing a three-year-old child by the arm and dragging them.
The daycare’s director had been standing in the classroom at the time but did not respond to the incident.
The St Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute following the daycare (pictured), which remains in operation today
Merseal doesn’t think enough was done following the horrific fight club, revealing that her younger son still doesn’t understand that brawling at daycare isn’t normal.
‘When we chose a new daycare for him and he started going, he asked me in the car if they were going to make him fight,’ she said.
Merseal is now suing Adventure Learning Center for more than $25,000.
‘I want them to be held accountable,’ she said. ‘I don’t want this to happen to any other child.’