OMAHA, NE — The Omaha Police Department has released reports detailing incidents that led to child abuse charges against a co-owner and two former employees of the Rosewood Academy child care company.
As the 3 News Now Investigators have reported, all 3 facilities were closed for two weeks while the state Department of Health and Human Services was conducting an investigation. That two-week period ended yesterday, but yesterday evening DHHS sent an email to parents of Rosewood attendees that all 3 facilities would remain closed because "it has been determined an emergency exists requiring immediate action to protect the well-being and safety of children attending all 3 Rosewood Academy locations".
This week co-owner Carl Hansen, and former employees Sage Bartow and Summer Dawson were charged with "child abuse - no serious injuries."
In the police reports released today, OPD indicated it was made aware in March and April of investigations by DHHS involving incidents that occurred in November and December of 2020 and in January of 2021.
According to the police reports, the first incident occurred sometime in October 2020 at Rosewood's NW Omaha facility located at 5225 N. 158th Ave.
It involved former employee Summer Dawson. The report says DHHS received a call to their child abuse hotline stating that Dawson was trying to put a name tag on a 2-year-old girl, but the girl was resisting. Former Rosewood Assistant Director Alexa Klabunde told police she witnessed the incident on video surveillance and saw Dawson placing the girl "roughly on her spot, partially dropping her to a seating position" which caused the girl to hit her head on a wall. Dawson spoke to police and said about the incident that she "handled it roughly" and stated "I threw her at the wall" and that she remembered the girl "got like that big bump on the back of her head".
The second incident occurred on December 16, 2020 and involved former Rosewood employee Sage Bartow. It happened at the Elkhorn facility located at 3830 N 176th St. A witness reported that Bartow became impatient with a group of children and tried to have them all sit down. A 1-1/2 year old girl was not listening to Bartow and the witness said she grabbed the girl by both legs and pulled them out from under her, causing the girl to fall and hit her head on the wood floor. Bartow told police she did pull the girl's legs out from under her, but held her back and said her head never hit the floor. She also stated she had been coached by management after the incident after Child Protective Services had investigated the incident.
The third incident occurred on January 29, 2021 and involved Rosewood Academy co-owner Carl Hansen. It reportedly happened at the NW Omaha location. In this incident, witnesses reported that Hansen was yelling at children in the gym area who were playing in a hula hoop. Witnesses said all the children ran away except for one 2-year-old boy, who froze. Witnesses reported Hansen grabbed the boy by the wrist and pulled the boy towards him. The boy tried to get away and Hansen reportedly yanked him by the ankle and foot and dragged him across the floor. The boy eventually freed himself and ran to a teacher.
For more on the 3 News Now Investigators reports on Rosewood Academy click here.
The reports are below: