HUNTINGTON – A Putnam County couple says a daycare worker physically abused their 2-year-old autistic son and “manhandled him like a rag doll.”
Erica and Dustin Walls filed their complaint July 1 in Cabell Circuit Court against Ridge Kids Academy and employee Kristy Browning.
According to the complaint, the incident took place May 19 at the daycare’s Woodville Campus in Barboursville. The boy, identified only as E.W., attended Ridge Kids because it partnered with Mountain Health Network to open child care facilities for their employees and other medical professionals.
When Erica Walls picked up her son that day, she says she found “bruising and marks on his left arm, including three finger-shaped bruises that were clearly visible on his upper arm.” Those injuries were not present that morning, so she says she immediately took E.W. to Woodville Campus director Christina Black and to Browning showed them the bruises and asked what had happened.
Browning
“I don’t know … he never cried or anything,” Browning replied, according to the complaint. It also says Black’s response “made it clear that she did not even know that E.W. had been injured, let alone how it happened.”
After seeing the finger‑shaped bruises, Black and Ridge Kids director Heather Blake “suggested that E.W. may have been injured by one of his classmates.”
Erica Walls suspected the bruises were caused by an adult rather than another toddler and took her son “straight to Urgent Care upon leaving RKA.” A health care provider there told her the finger‑shaped bruising was “consistent with having been caused by a human hand exerting intense pressure while squeezing his upper arm,” the complaint states.
Erica Walls then contacted the West Virginia Department of Human Services and reported her suspicion of abuse at the daycare. The complaint says DHS’s Institutional Investigation Unit concluded “the evidence obtained supported its finding that E.W. had been the victim of child abuse at Ridge Kids Academy on May 19, 2026.”
As part of its investigation, DHS reviewed surveillance video from three cameras inside Ridge Kids Academy, according to the complaint. The footage showed Browning “grabbing E.W. by his wrist and picking him up off of the floor, his body going limp in the process, until both of his legs were in the air,” then dragging him along the floor for several seconds, releasing him and letting him “collapse onto the floor face down as she walked on.”
When Browning turned and saw the child still lying in the hallway “his head resting on his forearms,” she allegedly went back and “aggressively grabbed E.W by his arm and picked him up off the ground again before pulling and dragging him all the way down the hall and into his classroom before letting him go and leaving him face down in the middle of the floor,” the complaint says.
Though the recording reportedly had no audio, the complaint says “the extremely rough treatment of E.W. depicted in the videos and the significant bruising he suffered from it leaves little doubt that E.W. had to have been crying as defendant Browning manhandled him like a rag doll.”
It further alleges Browning, aware of the child’s “verbal limitations from his autism,” was “banking on them to conceal her misconduct when she lied and told Plaintiff Erica Walls that she didn’t know what happened to E.W., and that ‘he never cried or anything.’”
The parents say Ridge Kids refused their request to view the surveillance video but “has [a] duty to preserve the video for purposes of this litigation.”
The Walls allege the daycare breached its duties in hiring Browning, who they say was employed there on two separate occasions and was rehired after a prior director had terminated her “reportedly for misconduct.”
Browning, of Huntington, was charged in May with one count of child abuse by parent, guardian, custodian, or person in position of trust causing bodily injury. She waived her preliminary hearing and posted a $15,000 bond, according to court records. The case has been bound over to the circuit court.
Citing Cabell County court records, the complaint says Browning’s criminal history includes guilty pleas to several counts of prostitution and possession of a controlled substance “among others,” predating her work at Ridge Kids.
Because Ridge Kids was required to perform a pre‑employment background check,” the parents say it “should have known about her criminal history before it hired her either time.”
The Walls accuse Ridge Kids of negligent hiring, negligent failure to disclose, negligent training, negligent supervision and negligent retention.
The complaint says that if Browning’s earlier termination stemmed from conduct that harmed a child or put children’s health and safety at risk, “then defendant RKA was further negligent in deciding to re‑hire her for a second round of employment.”
The complaint says Browning’s alleged assault on “the helpless, autistic two‑year‑old” and Ridge Kids’ employment decisions are “appalling, offensive and shocking to the conscience.”
The defendants’ conduct has caused physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, loss of earning capacity and lost future earnings, humiliation and embarrassment, according to the complaint. The Walls seek joint and several compensatory damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The Walls are being represented by Richard E. Holtzapfel of Holtzapfel Law Offices in Hurricane. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge David Amsbary.
Cabell Circuit Court case number 26-C-311
