Arizona Preschool Caregiver Accused of Beating 4-Year-Old with Autism

A 29-year-old Arizona preschool caregiver was arrested last Tuesday after he was accused of beating a four-year-old with autism.

Kyle McKee turned himself in on March 16, nearly a month after the police first responded to a child abuse call, KSAZ reported.

McKee worked as a Behavioral Health Technician at S.E.E.K Arizona East, a developmental preschool that provides care to toddlers and infants.

Investigators said officers received five video recordings from S.E.E.K. officials showing McKee inside a classroom with a nonverbal four-year-old boy with autism.

McKee was the sole care provider of the child. The video recordings took place between January 18, 2021, and February 16, 2021.

“The videos showed Kyle physically abusing the 4-year-old by hitting, pushing, and kicking him,” read a portion of the statement.

Investigators said McKee was released from custody on March 17 with an ankle monitor. He faces four felony counts of child abuse.

Jessica Irwin, the CEO of S.E.E.K. Arizona, released a statement about the incident.

“Upon speaking to the client’s parents, our management team quickly began a review of the session between the behavior technician and the child. S.E.E.K leadership immediately made a legally mandated report to the appropriate monitoring agencies.  We also immediately reported the incident to the police,” Irwin’s statement said in part.

“The employee — who had been background-checked, fingerprinted, and held a professional certification — had worked with S.E.E.K. since July 2018 without incident. We terminated the employee immediately, without this person ever seeing another client,” the statement continued.