DANDRIDGE, Tenn. — The Dandridge Police Department is now investigating an assault at Mountain View Youth Development, a juvenile detention facility.
Police said it happened over the weekend. The chief said the guard was working for the facility for about three years. Three juveniles are accused of attacking a guard, who was sent to the hospital. Carson Williams, the Chief of the Dandridge Police Department, said the guard was in critical condition.
“He had disciplined one of the male inmates earlier and they had caught him inside the unit, caught him off guard, had taken his pepper spray away and sprayed him and begin to beat him,” Williams said. “With their fists kicking him in the side in the face, this went on for several minutes.”
The Dandridge police chief said “discipline” from a guard can mean a write-up, or privileges like video games being taken away. However, it depends from the severity of the incident. He said juveniles at this center are there for a variety of reasons.
“Probably on the less serious side assaults, you know, thefts and the more serious, robberies, rapes, even homicides,” Williams said.
Mountain View Youth Development Center in Dandridge has a years-long history of problems and 10News has investigated the center in the past. In 2019, it took 24 officers to contain inmates after a medical emergency. And in 2020, five inmates beat a guard who tried to stop them from smoking.
“We had quite a bit trouble over there,” Williams said. “Had to respond several times and since then they have another contractor that’s running the facility.”
The police chief said since then, they’ve made changes.
As for this attack, the District attorney told WBIR the juveniles will attend a hearing in March. The chief said he hopes the District Attorney will take the prosecution up a notch.
“We hope the DA to prosecute these individuals as adults," Williams said.
Mountain View also released a statement about the assault. It is below.
“On February 18 at 3:05 p.m., three residents of Mountain View Academy assaulted a staff member. Security protocols were immediately implemented, and the situation was swiftly contained. The staff member was taken for treatment to a nearby hospital.”