PARK HILLS, M.O. — A Missouri mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a local day care, alleging her 3-year-old son was suffocated to death by a staff member using their legs or feet in an attempt to force him to sleep.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in St. Francois County Circuit Court by Tara Williams, accuses Poppy’s Playhouse—owned by a member of the Park Hills City Council—of negligence and wrongful death in connection with the May 16 death of her son, Conrad Ashcraft.
According to the complaint, the boy was lying down when an unnamed employee applied “weight and pressure” to his chest and/or abdomen using their lower extremities in an effort to subdue him for nap time. The filing alleges that this technique caused a fatal injury and that the day care was aware of and approved the method.
The incident occurred at the facility located on the 100 block of Mitchell Street in Park Hills, about 65 miles south of St. Louis.
Williams claims her son’s death was “the direct and proximate result of negligence” by the day care, which she says failed to properly train and supervise its staff.
Lawsuit alleges day care knew of dangerous restraint technique
The lawsuit details three key allegations: that a staff member applied weight to the child using their legs or feet to force sleep; that the facility failed to train and supervise staff to ensure safe conduct; and that the day care “knew and approved” of this method of restraint despite the risk of suffocation.
The employee accused of applying the fatal restraint is not named in the court filing, and no criminal charges have been announced as of Tuesday.
As of now, no response has been filed by Poppy’s Playhouse or its ownership regarding the lawsuit.