‘Frozen in fear.’ YMCA employee choked and abused toddlers in Texas, lawsuit says
The families of three toddlers are suing a Texas YMCA after surveillance video showed a day care worker abusing the children, according to a lawsuit.
Geraline Browning is charged with five counts of injury to a child, according to court records.
A civil lawsuit was filed against the YMCA of Central Texas, where Browning worked, after Browning was accused of abusing toddlers.
Browning’s attorney told McClatchy News in an email that the two “are working with the prosecutors to resolve this matter without trial.”
The YMCA of Central Texas did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Jan. 30.
In February 2024, employees at the YMCA of Central Texas’ Pflugerville Northwest Elementary Child Development Center in the Austin area began reviewing surveillance footage to try and find a missing shoe, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 23.
While watching the videos, the employees observed Browning sitting in a chair looking at her phone, according to the suit. She then walks over to a child, “aggressively” grabs her by her arm and forces her to sit down on the floor in front of her, the lawsuit said.
As the girl is crying, Browning is then seen grabbing the girl by the throat, choking and shaking her while berating her for crying, according to the civil complaint.
The girl’s mother later told investigators that the girl often came home with bruises and scratches, but staff could never explain how she got them, the lawsuit said.
After viewing this incident, detectives continued to watch more footage, finding additional cases of abuse, the lawsuit said.
Between Jan. 29 and Feb. 21, 2024, Browning was seen on video aggressively grabbing and yanking toddlers by their arms, necks and collarbones; grabbing a toddler by her neck and choking her for six seconds until she began “hysterically crying”; and shaking a child, according to the lawsuit.
In one case, she grabbed a 2-year-old from the back of the neck, spun her around and forced her to the floor as the other children watched “frozen in fear,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the “YMCA failed to create incident reports related to any of the incidents until after the state licensing department issued citations for the failure and instructed the YMCA to provide incident reports to the parents in compliance with the laws of Texas.”
It also said Browning was not fired after employees discovered the first incident of abuse, but instead she was placed on suspension before the YMCA finally terminated her after police became involved.
“Nothing about what happened at the YMCA or how the organization operated this daycare center is acceptable. Innocent toddlers were severely mistreated and unsafely disciplined on multiple occasions,” Russell Button, who represents all three families at The Button Law Firm, said in a statement.
The lawsuit is asking for a jury trial and an undetermined amount in damages.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 12:55 PM with the headline "‘Frozen in fear.’ YMCA employee choked and abused toddlers in Texas, lawsuit says."
