Inset: William Sturgill (Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office/Clarksville Now). Background: The entrance to the Oak Plains Academy behavioral school in Tennessee where former worker William Sturgill allegedly “yeeted” a 10-year-old boy off a couch (Google Maps).
In a disturbing incident at a children’s behavioral school in Tennessee, a staff member reportedly engaged in a physical altercation with a 10-year-old student. Instead of calming the situation, the worker allegedly threw the boy across a dayroom by his ankle, according to law enforcement and the boy’s mother.
The child, in recounting the event to his mother, Katelyn Swainson, likened the experience to being “yeeted off the couch so fast like Superman.” Swainson shared these details with local news outlet Clarksville Now this week.
William Sturgill, 43, faces charges of child abuse or endangerment due to the incident that occurred in May at Oak Plains Academy. Following his arrest in August, a trial has been scheduled for December 15, as per court records available online.
On May 28, Swainson received a concerning call from her son, who alleged that Sturgill became upset with him over a disagreement involving a blanket, according to Clarksville Now.
Swainson described the incident, saying, “Mr. Sturgill, rather than using de-escalation techniques as he is trained to do, approached my child aggressively, screaming and pointing in his face. My son instinctively ran away from him, as part of a fight or flight response.”
The boy, who attends Oak Plains for support with behavioral challenges related to autism, ADHD, and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD), reportedly fled to a dayroom. There, Sturgill allegedly pursued him and forcefully threw him onto a couch, as outlined in the arrest warrant detailed by Clarksville Now.
Swainson says Sturgill, who was allegedly caught on video, was shoving her son repeatedly onto the couch as he attempted to get up. The child kicked Sturgill “straight in between his legs” during the physical dispute and “that’s when Mr. Sturgill reacted by grabbing him by his ankles,” according to Swainson.
“And I mean he (Sturgill) pulled him off the couch so hard and so fast that his head smacked on the floor first,” Swainson said. Her son sustained bruising to his left wrist and shoulder, according to police.
“He was making progress there,” Swainson told Clarksville Now, in reference to Oak Plains, which describes itself online as a “residential treatment facility that provides services to boys and girls ages 7-17, struggling with emotional, behavioral and neurodevelopmental challenges,” per its website.
“We were seeing that he was going down the right path, but then this happened and kind of set us all back,” Swainson said.
Oak Plains has confirmed to Clarksville Now that Sturgill is no longer employed at the facility after management reviewed the video of the alleged incident. The center did not respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment on Wednesday.
