JAMESTOWN, TENN. — Michelle L. Phillips and Melinda D. Seay were charged with child endangerment and reckless child endangerment after a 3-year-old boy escaped unnoticed from their Head Start daycare in Jamestown, Tennessee, on May 7. Officers responded at 10:55 a.m. to reports of a child running in the road on North Main Street.

Dausyn Delk, a student at the LBJ&C Head Start facility, left the building unattended and entered the roadway. A passerby picked him up from the middle of North Main Street at 10:57 a.m. and returned him to the daycare parking lot, where an employee identified him and notified his parents.

Video obtained by police showed Dausyn sprinting toward the classroom door at 10:48 a.m. while Phillips and Seay were cleaning. The classroom door was left open, and footage captured Dausyn in the front lobby exiting the center at 10:53 a.m. He ran across parking lots and south on Main Street the following minute.

According to an affidavit, Melinda D. Seay stated she had been assisting students with diaper changes and bathroom breaks and was unsure when Dausyn escaped, but thought a speech therapist may have left the door open. The affidavit said video showed Seay left the door open after the speech therapist had closed it.

The affidavit also indicated Michelle L. Phillips had four opportunities to close the door before Dausyn’s escape. Phillips denied knowing when he left or that she had left the door open.

Phillips and Seay were booked into the Fentress County Jail on May 28 and released on bond. In March, two employees at Kids Korner Daycare, located next door to the Head Start facility, were charged with negligent child endangerment after a child wandered from that location.