PROVO — Police arrested a staff member at Provo Canyon School, a psychiatric youth residential treatment center, after they say he punched a student in the face Tuesday.
A video captured the incident and shows two staff members in a room with two students, police say.
Students were kicking the staff members while they were “trying to control one of the students.” The other student in the room, a 15-year-old girl, starts walking to the door and is confronted by Mulmauga Tuiloma, 27, according to a police booking affidavit.
The student slapped Tuiloma, who “turned and punched the victim on the right side of her face with a closed fist,” the affidavit alleges.
During an interview with police, the student had a visible mark on her cheek, “appeared disoriented and confused,” and was sent to the hospital to be checked out. Tuiloma told police he was “using a restraint technique” before admitting to punching the victim in the face, the affidavit states.
Tuiloma was booked into Utah County Jail Tuesday for investigation of aggravated child abuse. No formal charges have been filed against him as of Friday.
The Provo Canyon School has been the subject of nation scrutiny after Paris Hilton and other former residents called for its closure, saying they were subjected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse during their time there in the ’90s and 2000s.
