Disturbing video of carer dragging teen by genitals at autism centre emerges

Disturbing footage shows a worker at a centre for people with autism grabbing a 19-year-old by the genitals and dragging him as he cries in pain.

A case worker at centre for autistic students in New York grabbed a 19-year-old by his genitals and squeezed them in his grip while dragging the teen as he howled in agony, horrifying video shows.

Garnet Collins, 50, is charged with brutalising the youth at the publicly-funded boarding school run by the private Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg, in upstate New York.

Sparking even more outrage, the Anderson Center swiftly fired the whistleblower who recorded the smoking-gun video and then alerted the teen’s parents, the New York Post reports.

The horrific case casts a spotlight on the prominent 100-year-old institution, which collects millions of dollars in state and city taxpayer funds to educate and house students with severe autism.

The state pays the Anderson Center $US651 ($1018) a day per resident for room and board alone.

“Our son has been traumatised,” said the 19-year-old’s father, a financial consultant from Queens in the US.

“I want justice for my son, and justice for the other kids in that home.”

The disturbing footage was captured and released to the teen’s family by a whistleblower at the facility, who was later fired. Picture: Fox 5

The whistleblower’s video, first published by Fox 5 New York, gave prosecutors smoking-gun evidence.

“You hear my son screaming at the top of his lungs,” the dad said.

“The abuser is yelling, ‘Go to your room! My son says, ‘I don’t want to! I want to call mummy!’

“The perpetrator then grabs my son by his penis and by his scrotum, through his clothing, and drags him 20 to 25 feet (more than 6m) to into another room, where he shuts the door. My son continues to scream inside that room.”

The video captured 28 seconds of what the whistleblower described as 30 minutes of “torture”, the dad said, asking to be identified only by his first name, Anil, to protect his son’s privacy.

On August 11, the parents brought the video to state police, who arrested Collins.

He is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of an incompetent/physically disabled person.

The second count stems from a different video recorded by the whistleblower that allegedly shows Collins hitting another Anderson Center student with a hard notebook binder and reveals red marks on his forehead.

Anil is upset that Collins, under a possible plea deal, may get sentenced to no more than six months in jail — if any time behind bars — with five years of probation, the Dutchess County District Attorney’s office told him.

The teen’s devastated father Anil has spoken out about the incident. Picture: Fox 5

Anil also accuses law enforcement officials of failing to fully investigate and prosecute higher-ups at Anderson Center who oversaw the aides and allegedly “turned a blind eye” to misconduct.

“What happens at Chestnut House, stays at Chestnut House,” the whistleblower told the parents his supervisor had warned him, referring to the unit where he worked.

In a statement to The Post, an Anderson Center spokesperson rebutted, “We have no reason to believe that was ever said.”

The dismissed whistleblower, a young man from Malawi recruited to live on-site and care for the autistic residents, was left at risk of losing his visa for a work exchange program.

The aide, who’d been paid $US1000 ($1564) a month by Anderson Center along with housing, dreaded deportation and was “physically afraid for his life,” Anil said.

Anil helped the aide find a place to live in Brooklyn and keep his immigration status to remain a witness in the case against Collins.

An Anderson Center representative said the whistleblower was terminated for “unrelated conduct”, but would not specify the reason.

“We continued to offer housing and a living stipend so he would be available for any questions during the investigation,” the spokesperson said.

The centre is facing allegations of a culture of ‘abuse and retaliation’. Picture: Fox 5

Anderson Center’s history highlights dysfunction in New York’s care for people with disabilities.

The parents of Jonathan Carey, a 13-year-old with autism, transferred him out of Anderson in 2003 after learning the centre had withheld food from the boy to punish him for taking off his shirt at the wrong time.

Jonathan suffocated to death in 2007 while being restrained in another facility, since closed.

In 2010, Anderson Center agreed to pay the family a $US6 million ($A9.4 million) settlement. His family pushed New York to pass “Jonathan’s Law”, which gives parents access to their children’s records in such facilities.

Two months ago, Anderson Center agreed to pay $US440,000 ($A688,360) to the family of Johnathan Ballard, 23, who got sick after ingesting latex gloves at the facility, court records show.

“There is plainly a culture of abuse and retaliation at Anderson,” charged Ilann Maazel, a civil rights lawyer who won the Carey case and now represents Anil and his son.

The Anderson Center said: “Over the last century we’ve developed a global reputation as a leader in caring for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. The allegations of reprehensible conduct are entirely contrary to our values, and we are actively co-operating with the state authorities in their thorough investigation, which is still ongoing.”

Collins’ lawyer, Elton Igunbor, did not return calls for comment.

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission