TYLER, Texas (KETK/KFXK) – Two East Texas men have been arrested for beating a nonverbal autistic teenager in the head as well as choking him, according to an arrest warrant obtained by KETK News and FOX 51 News.

Bubacarr Ceesay, 24, was captured on a hidden camera of hitting a 19-year-old man, who is nonverbal, with a shoe on his head.

The victim has to be helped to the restroom during the night and Ceesay was seen hitting him with his shoe to wake him up.

The video was taken after the victim’s father set up a hidden camera because he “wanted to see what [he] did every day.”

According to the warrant, the abuse occurred at 12:35 a.m. on January 29.

Ceesay is seen using the side of the sole first and then hits the victim several times in the head. When he woke up, Ceesay struck him two more times with the back of the shoe.

In another arrest warrant, Auston Reed, 23, was captured on video grabbing the alleged victim by the neck, and hit him in the side of the head with an open hand, causing the victim’s head to snap to the side.

The 19-year-old cannot speak, so he was unable to communicate what was happening to him, according to the warrant.

The abuse happened at a group home owned by a company called Community Access in Tyler. The company said that the victim has been diagnosed with the following diseases and disorders:

  • Autism
  • Pervasive Developmental Disorder
  • Fragile X Syndrome
  • Impulse Control Disorder
  • ADHD
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder
  • Oppositional Defiant Disorder
  • Moderate Intellectual Disability
  • Hypercholesterolemia
  • Hypertriglyceridemia
  • Speech Impairment
  • Enuresis

Buddy Smith III, the home manager, confirmed to police that Ceesay was the one on video and that timesheet records show that he was the only one working at the time of the assault.

According to the warrant, Ceesay and Reed initially denied to police in an interview that they were the ones assaulting the victim. After police showed them the video, both confessed that it was in fact themselves.

Tonya Moses, the Vice President of Community Access in Tyler sent this statement regarding the incident:

“We are devastated and horrified that this happened to one of our loved ones. The individuals we serve are our family and we will not tolerate any type of mistreatment. We do our best to hire, train and retain employees and associates that are passionate about providing quality personalized care. Upon learning of this, we immediately reported it to the authorities and removed the employees from our payroll. The employees involved are no longer employed with Community Access and we are currently working with investigators on the matter. Community Access has served individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities for 29 years providing quality care.” – TONYA MOSES, VP, COMMUNITY ACCESS IN TYLER

(Information from EastTexasMatters.com)