AGXStarseed
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David Sutton was convicted on 2 counts of aggravated battery after altercations with a 14- and 16-year-old at the Palatine center in 2015.
A former Little City employee was found guilty last week of hitting two autistic teens at the Palatine facility. David Sutton, 54, of Round Lake, was convicted on two counts of aggravated battery Friday and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, the Daily Herald reports.
During his three-day trial, Sutton and his defense team said that the former life skills instructor at the residential center for kids with developmental disabilities hit the teens — 14 and 16 — out of self-defense during an incident on Sept. 27, 2015, the report stated. Sutton's lawyers claimed he was being set up as a scapegoat for Little City's poor placement and treatment of the 16-year-old boy, who had a history of physical aggression against the staff, the report added. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest Arlington Heights news. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)
Cook County prosecutors, however, accused Sutton of intentionally trying to hurt the teens, calling him "a bully," the report stated. According to prosecutors, he provoked the 16-year-old boy by poking him in the back while the facility resident was sitting on a couch. Sutton, though, claims he was tapping him to calm him down, the report added.
The jury was shown security video from the facility that depicted Sutton's run-ins with the teens, the report stated. In an incident with the 16-year-old, Sutton is seen breaking the teen's grasp after the boy grabbed a female employee's hair. Sutton then is seen pushing the boy into two walls before putting him in a wall restraint, the report added.
The footage later shows teen going after Sutton, who then punches the boy before the two scuffle to the floor, the report stated. Once on the ground, Sutton eventually puts the 16-year-old in a floor restraint, the report added.
In a video involving the 14-year-old, Sutton is seen pushing the teen's head into a couch, something Sutton characterized as playful roughhousing, the Herald reports.
Little City placed Sutton on admistrative leave Sept. 29, and the facility fired him Oct. 6, a day before he was arrested. He will remain in custody until his post-trial court date July 19, the report added.
Recently, the Palatine facility has faced other controversies involving former employees. Last year, the same 11-year-old special needs resident was attacked and abused by workers on two separate and unrelated occasions.
In July of 2016, a 23-year-old former worker from Schaumburg, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery of a child after she was accused of punching the boy in the face on June 17. The boy was later involved in a Dec. 1 incident with two other former employees — a Palatine woman, 39, and a Forest Park woman, 22 — who allegedly beat the child with a bucket. The women were arrested in February of this year and charged with aggravated battery following a Department of Children and Family Services investigation.
Source: https://patch.com/illinois/palatine/ex-little-city-instructor-guilty-hitting-autistic-teens
David Sutton was convicted on 2 counts of aggravated battery after altercations with a 14- and 16-year-old at the Palatine center in 2015.
A former Little City employee was found guilty last week of hitting two autistic teens at the Palatine facility. David Sutton, 54, of Round Lake, was convicted on two counts of aggravated battery Friday and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, the Daily Herald reports.
During his three-day trial, Sutton and his defense team said that the former life skills instructor at the residential center for kids with developmental disabilities hit the teens — 14 and 16 — out of self-defense during an incident on Sept. 27, 2015, the report stated. Sutton's lawyers claimed he was being set up as a scapegoat for Little City's poor placement and treatment of the 16-year-old boy, who had a history of physical aggression against the staff, the report added. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest Arlington Heights news. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)
Cook County prosecutors, however, accused Sutton of intentionally trying to hurt the teens, calling him "a bully," the report stated. According to prosecutors, he provoked the 16-year-old boy by poking him in the back while the facility resident was sitting on a couch. Sutton, though, claims he was tapping him to calm him down, the report added.
The jury was shown security video from the facility that depicted Sutton's run-ins with the teens, the report stated. In an incident with the 16-year-old, Sutton is seen breaking the teen's grasp after the boy grabbed a female employee's hair. Sutton then is seen pushing the boy into two walls before putting him in a wall restraint, the report added.
The footage later shows teen going after Sutton, who then punches the boy before the two scuffle to the floor, the report stated. Once on the ground, Sutton eventually puts the 16-year-old in a floor restraint, the report added.
In a video involving the 14-year-old, Sutton is seen pushing the teen's head into a couch, something Sutton characterized as playful roughhousing, the Herald reports.
Little City placed Sutton on admistrative leave Sept. 29, and the facility fired him Oct. 6, a day before he was arrested. He will remain in custody until his post-trial court date July 19, the report added.
Recently, the Palatine facility has faced other controversies involving former employees. Last year, the same 11-year-old special needs resident was attacked and abused by workers on two separate and unrelated occasions.
In July of 2016, a 23-year-old former worker from Schaumburg, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery of a child after she was accused of punching the boy in the face on June 17. The boy was later involved in a Dec. 1 incident with two other former employees — a Palatine woman, 39, and a Forest Park woman, 22 — who allegedly beat the child with a bucket. The women were arrested in February of this year and charged with aggravated battery following a Department of Children and Family Services investigation.
Source: https://patch.com/illinois/palatine/ex-little-city-instructor-guilty-hitting-autistic-teens
