In a harrowing account of alleged abuse at Happy Dragon Childcare Learning Center in Corona, Queens, a family has accused the day care of trying to cover up how their nonverbal son with autism ended up bruised and with hand sanitizer in his mouth in 2023. The 3-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital after the incident was discovered, with his mother Sabrina Gentile recounting to ABC7NY, "when I went home and unzippered his coat and saw it I just, I was shocked."
The day care, however, purportedly claimed initially that the child bit himself, with the boy's parents later learning through surveillance video that his teacher, Heidi Velasco Munoz, had removed a toy from his mouth and followed it with forcing hand sanitizer in, the surveillance video, instead, captured his teacher, Heidi Velasco Munoz, removing a toy from his mouth and then forcing hand sanitizer in his mouth according to the same source, ABC7NY. Munoz pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and, as reported by The Post, told police "I don’t have an explanation" for why she did it. The family's lawyers, Sanford Rubenstein and Mark Shirian, are pursuing a civil lawsuit to seek justice beyond her sentencing of 15 days of community service.
According to the lawsuit, not only did the Happy Dragon Children Learning Center fail to report the abuse to the parents promptly but also did not terminate Munoz immediately despite the available video evidence Andy they issued a false incident report; the daycare allegedly stonewalled the boy's parents and even issued a false incident report claiming their non-verbal son bit himself, signed by the teacher and the daycare's director, claimed The Post. Gentile, who has over a decade of experience working as an EMS first-responder, stated that the marks looked like fingerprints and did not resemble bite marks, which she could identify.
When German Vasquez, the boy's father, demanded to see surveillance footage the day care resisted until police intervention was prompted the school didn’t want to show us nothing until the police actually arrived on the scene, Vasquez conveyed to The Post. His experience viewing the footage was shocking, detailing that he witnessed "the lady rubbing stuff in my son's mouth." Nearly two years after the distressing events, the child's mother still avoids driving near the site of the old daycare as her son continues to display signs of discomfort when approaching the area, suggesting ongoing trauma from the incident Gentile says nearly two years later, her son still gets nervous if they drive toward his old day care she relayed to ABC7NY.
The civil lawsuit aims to hold the individuals and the daycare accountable, as the family's attorneys highlight the necessity of safety and accountability when it comes to the care of children. A spokesperson from Happy Dragon issued a statement asserting that the safety of children is and has always been their first priority, and that the daycare worked with authorities following the incident, which included terminating Munoz upon learning the facts, according to ABC7NY.
