Two summer camp counselors in Miami-Dade County are facing serious charges after authorities say a nine-year-old boy was assaulted at the camp where they worked, according to CBS News Miami. The case, which unfolded at a program in the southwest part of the county, has drawn attention because of the age of the child and the nature of the accusations now being examined by investigators.
According to authorities, the camp operates inside St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church, although officials have clarified that the summer program itself is not affiliated with the church. The two counselors accused in the case have been identified by investigators as Antoinette McKay and Zacchaeus Scott, both of whom are now facing charges in connection with the incident.
Detectives allege that the situation turned physical after a fight broke out while the boy was playing football with his siblings. According to the investigators' account, McKay held the child down while Scott struck him several times, an episode that authorities say left the young victim with serious injuries and prompted the charges that have followed.
The arrest paperwork includes further allegations about how the boy was treated during the incident. According to those documents, Scott placed large orange cones over the child's head, and the boy told investigators that this caused him difficulty breathing. Detectives have cited these details as part of the basis for the case brought against the two counselors.
An attorney representing McKay and Scott has pushed back on the case as it has been presented so far. The lawyer argued that the arrest forms do not contain all of the relevant information and pointed out that the boy's father continued to bring his children to the camp for four days after the alleged incident before it ultimately came to light.
The circumstances surrounding when and how the allegations were reported remain part of the ongoing scrutiny of the case. Questions have been raised about how the confrontation escalated and about the sequence of events that led to the two counselors, who were initially described as intervening in a dispute between children, now being the ones facing charges.
CBS News Miami reported that it had reached out to the summer camp program for comment but had not yet received a response. Officials reiterated that, despite the camp being held on the premises of St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church, the program is not connected to the congregation. The case remains under investigation as the charges move forward.