Reed

Two caregivers at a special needs home in Tyler were arrested after videos showed them physically beating a nonverbal teen with autism, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Bubacarr Ceesay, 24, of Tyler, and Auston Kile Reed, 23, of Lindale, were charged Tuesday with injury to a disabled person.

The father of the disabled teen came to the Tyler Police Department with video of the alleged abuse by facility staff members. He placed hidden cameras in his son’s room because he wanted to know what his son was doing, according to the affidavit.

In a Jan. 27 video, Reed can be seen yelling at the teen, who was changing clothes at the time, to take his shoes. The teen started to pull his pants down before taking his shoes off and Reed hit him, according to the affidavit.

In another video, Reed is seen grabbing the teen by the neck and hitting him in the side of the head with Reed’s open hand, which made the teen’s head snap to the side, according to the police document.

In a Jan. 23 video, Reed hit the teen with an open hand after Reed saw the teen soiled in his adult diaper. The hit caused the teen’s head to snap back and to the side, the affidavit stated.

In a video, Ceesay took his shoe off and struck the teen in the head several times to wake him up Jan. 29. The teen has to be awakened to use the restroom during the night. Once he woke up, Ceesay hit him two more times in the head with the shoe. When he sat up, Ceesay used the shoe to hit him in the back of the head, according to the affidavit.

In addition to autism and being nonverbal, medical documents show the teen also has multiple disabilities and disorders. Because of his diagnosis, someone needs to be with the teen at all times, the affidavit stated.

During separate interviews with police, Ceesay and Reed both denied abusing the teen, but they admitted to the abuse after being shown the video, according to the documents.

Reed remains in Smith County Jail on two charges of injury to a disabled person causing reckless serious bodily injury on two bonds of $100,000 each. Ceesay remains in Smith County Jail with a $100,000 bond, according to online records.