Round Lake Man Who Hit Autistic Teens Gets 8 Years In Prison

A former Little City staffer was sentencted to eight years in prison last week after he was convicted on aggravated battery charges in July stemming from claims he hit two autistic teens at the Palatine center for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. David Sutton, 54, of Round Lake, received five years for pushing a 16-year-old resident into a wall twice before placing him in a chokehold, and he received another three years for pulling a 14-year-old boy by the hair and throwing him down on a couch, according to the Daily Herald. Judge James Karahalios ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, the report added.

Throughout his three-day trial last month and at his setencting Thursday, Sutton claimed his actions, which were recorded by the facility's security cameras, were self-defense as he tried to protect himself and co-workers in both incidents from September of 2015. But Karahalios said the video footage showed Sutton's actions to be those of a bully and not a guardian and that the former life skills instructor purposely used "excessive, unreasonable force" against "children who, through no fault of their own, are prisoners in their own bodies," the Herald reports.

"That conduct has absolutely no place at Little City or any other facility that deals with special needs children," Karahalios told the courtroom during sentencing Thursday, Aug. 3, according to the Herald.

RELATED: Ex-Little City Instructor Guilty Of Hitting Autistic Teens

Prosecutors at the trial accused Sutton of physically provoking the 16-year-old, and the jury was shown footage of the staffer slamming the teen into the walls before placing him in restraints. Video also was played of Sutton shoving the 14-year-old's head into a couch, an act Sutton described as playful roughhousing.

In the case of the incident with the 16-year-old, Sutton said the teen had a history of past aggression against staffers, and he claimed the tapping that prosecutors said was provocation was actually done to calm the boy. The video from Little City also shows Sutton trying to stop the teen from grabbing a female employee by the hair.

At the sentencing, Sutton's wife said her husband is treated for bipolar disorder and isn't prone to violence, according to the Herald. The former Little City employee also expressed remorse for what happened in 2015, but prosecutors pointed out that Sutton's apologies went out to everyone except the teenage victims, the report added.

Little City placed Sutton on admistrative leave Sept. 29, and the facility fired him Oct. 6, a day before he was arrested.

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