Ex-DPS employee caught on video hitting nonverbal child officially facing charges

DAYTON — A former Dayton Public Schools employee who was caught on video hitting a nonverbal student and causing him to fall to the ground is officially facing charges.

Darrick Sorrells, 56, of Dayton, was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on one count of assault and two counts of endangering children, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records. This came over a week after prosecutors approved charges in his case.

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The charges against Sorrells stem from the Aug. 21 surveillance video which caught Sorrells, who was an employee at Rosa Parks Early Learning Center at the time, taking care of a special-needs child, previously identified by his parents as Braylen Tootle.

Sorrells was pulling the child in a wagon when Braylen got out of the wagon and took off running. As News Center 7 previously reported, the video showed Sorrells chasing after Braylen. When he caught up to him, Sorrells was seen hitting the child on the head and knocking him down.

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The video showed Sorrells picking Braylen up by the ankles and carrying him upside down back down the hallway.

“Parents need to know what is going on with their children, so if an event like this happens, they need to be contacted immediately. And the next thing is, also, to let people who are employed in this capacity know, that’s not going to be permitted, this kind of conduct,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck, Jr. said while announcing the indictment Thursday.

Sorrells was placed on administrative leave following the incident. He later “resigned in lieu of termination” four days after the video went public.

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