Former Scottdale day care worker accused of assaulting 4-year-old boy appears in court

A former day care worker from Scottdale, 58-year-old Krista Ondish, showed up at a district court on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing on multiple counts of assaulting and endangering a child who was in her care last month.

Police say that on Sept. 5, Ondish allegedly pinned a 4-year-old boy into a corner of a room at the New Hope Childcare Center and Preschool in Scottdale. And they say that while pinned in that corner, Ondish allegedly allowed another child to hit the 4-year-old victim and shove him to the ground repeatedly.

Police say they have in their possession a surveillance video of the incident that would be hard to repudiate.

But Ondish's attorney, Timothy Andrews, says that his client has been working in the child care field for years and has never had an issue. And he says that once a jury sees all the evidence in the case, they will side with his client.

"We haven't seen the video yet, but I do know that there's a lot more video that has not been provided," said Andrews. "I have been advised that maybe that video is gone, but that video may be very telling on what happened in this instance. The little boy was playing with my client later is my understanding, but we are going to wait and see if they still have that video or if somehow it is not available to us, and we'll deal with that when the time comes."

Arresting officer Scottdale Assistant Police Chief Matthew Zelenak was also at court on Wednesday and he says the child in question is doing better but was diagnosed with a mild concussion. 

"I am not familiar with any other video and the video that I have seen that exists, I really don't know how you excuse or defend that," Zelenak said.

Ondish's formal arraignment will take place at the Westmoreland County Courthouse on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at 8:30 a.m. in courtroom #6.