By Teresa Masterson
NBCPhiladelphia.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38598523/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
A long-time employee of Woods Services, the facility where an autistic man died after being left in a hot car for hours, was arrested for allegedly selling cocaine, police say.
Uron Brinson, 34, of Pennington Avenue in Trenton, N.J., sold an ounce of cocaine for $1,120 to an undercover person on July 26 in the parking lot of Woods Services, police say.
Brinson then sold 110 grams of cocaine for $5,000 in the same parking lot of the special needs organization on Friday Aug. 6, Bristol Township Police say.
To read the full article, please click the following link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38598523/ns/local_news-philadelphia_pa/
Showing posts with label Death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Death. Show all posts
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
PA: Residential Abuse and Neglect: The Death of Brian Nevins
By Amy Caraballo, AWN Contributing Writer
For years we have been told to not lock our pets in our cars even in cool weather. Public service announcements have flooded the media warning of the dangers that quickly arise causing heatstroke and suffocation.
- [1] It takes only minutes for a pet left in a vehicle on a warm day to succumb to heatstroke and suffocation. Most people don't realize how hot it can get in a parked car on a balmy day. However, on a 78 degree day, temperatures in a car parked in the shade can exceed 90 degrees -- and hit a scorching 160 degrees if parked in the sun!
But on July 24, 2010 a residential treatment facility in Eastern Pennsylvania left a 20 year old Autistic boy locked in a sweltering hot van parked in the facility's own parking lot for more than five hours in 97 degree weather. Brian Nevins' lifeless body was found in the van only after a staff nurse could not find him to administer medications.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that after an outing to Sesame Place in Langhorne PA, a Woods Services counselor dropped off a colleague and two of his clients on campus. She then drove a short distance to adjoining homes where her two clients lived. Only one of her two clients was taken into the facility. Brian Nevins was left in a back passenger seat with locked doors that could only be opened from outside. According to the Inquirer, the unnamed counselor returned to work and finished her shift, clocking out and leaving a few hours later.
While the unnamed counselor, who has been suspended, appears to be the primary focus of the investigation, many questions come to mind regarding the entire facility's treatment of residents. In November, a 17-year-old Woods resident died when he was struck by cars after falling from a highway overpass. The Bucks County Coroner's Office ruled that death accidental.
For the full article, please follow the link:
http://www.autismwomensnetwork.org/article/residential-abuse-and-neglect
MO: Girl, 16, Dies During Restraint at an Already Troubled Hospital
BY BLYTHE BERNHARD • bbernhard@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8129 AND JEREMY KOHLER • jkohler@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8337 ©2010, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Posted: Sunday, August 1, 2010 10:00 am |
The charge nurse found Alexis Evette Richie alone in a small room at SSM DePaul Health Center, motionless and sprawled facedown on a bean bag chair.
Minutes earlier, the 16-year-old foster child had tried to hit, scratch and bite staff members in the adolescent psychiatric ward. Two aides grabbed her arms and took her down a hall and into a small room called the "quiet room."
They held her facedown in the chair while a nurse injected a sedative into her hip. Alexis continued to struggle and then went limp.
The nurse and the two aides left without checking her pulse or making sure she was breathing.
Charge nurse Iris Blanks checked on her minutes later and didn't think Alexis looked right. An aide helped Blanks roll the girl over. Alexis wasn't breathing. Her pulse was faint.
It was 12 minutes after she stopped moving before anyone tried to revive Alexis. By then it was too late.
"Why did they leave her like that?" Blanks wailed over the phone to her daughter that night, according to a police report.
The "little girl," she said, "didn't have to die."
The medical examiner agreed, concluding that Alexis had suffocated on the bean bag chair. Her death on Oct. 26 was ruled a homicide.
For the full article, please follow the link: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_4a10ccdd-5d08-52bd-bfc5-c435014aa09b.html?mode=story
PA: Bucks Caregiver Faces Criminal Neglect Charges in Autistic Man's Heat Death
"Everyone was out of the van."
Time and again, when Bucks County investigators asked how a helpless, autistic man had been left to die last month in a sweltering, parked vehicle, that had been his caregiver's response, court records say.
She was wrong - criminally so, police have now concluded.
On Tuesday, authorities charged that caregiver, Stacey Strauss of Philadelphia, with fatally neglecting Bryan Nevins, a 20-year-old client at Woods Services, a Langhorne care facility.
Nevins' body was found July 24 in a van she had parked outside Woods Services, where he had been left behind on a 97-degree afternoon.
Severely autistic, Nevins was so childlike that he was never supposed to be out of his caregiver's view, court records say. Yet he was left in the van for five hours after returning from an excursion to Sesame Place.
"Mr. Nevins' death was not simply a tragic accident," said a statement issued by Bucks County District Attorney David W. Heckler and Middletown Township's acting public safety director, Patrick McGinty. "Rather, his death resulted from the criminal failure of the defendant to discharge her assigned responsibilities to Mr. Nevins."
For the full article, please follow the link:: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100804_Bucks_caregiver_faces_criminal_neglect_charges_in_autistic_man_s_heat_death.html#ixzz0vlJfJ4Dk
PA: State official calls autistic man's death 'totally avoidable'
The state official whose agency regulates the Bucks County facility where a severely autistic man died in a sweltering van called the death "totally avoidable" and said his staff had accelerated its investigation into the case.
Richard Gold, deputy secretary for the Office of Children, Youth and Families, said inspectors had been at Woods Services' campus in Langhorne almost every day since Bryan Nevins' death on July 24.
In an interview Wednesday, Gold said his office expected to release preliminary findings this week. He declined to elaborate, but was blunt in his assessment.
"In my opinion," Gold said, "this was a totally avoidable tragedy."
Bucks County prosecutors on Tuesday charged a counselor at the facility with felony neglect of a care-dependent person and other counts.
They said Stacey Strauss of Philadelphia was responsible for Nevins when she and another counselor escorted him and three other Woods clients to and from Sesame Place that Saturday.
According to a probable-cause affidavit, Nevins, whose parents say he had the mental ability of a toddler, was left in the back of the van after it returned to the campus around 12:30 p.m.
Nearly five hours passed before staff realized he was missing. They found his body across the backseat of the van, his arms folded.
Authorities say Nevins probably died within an hour from sitting in the torrid heat.
For the full article, please follow the link: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/100009479.html?cmpid=15585797#ixzz0vlIQIcil
PA: State Revokes Woods Services License After Heat-Related Death
State officials Thursday revoked one of the licenses of the Bucks County facility where a severely autistic man died in a sweltering van, and ordered eight other clients who lived in the same unit to be removed from the campus.
The Department of Public Welfare also banned Woods Services, the Langhorne residential care center, from accepting new clients until the department completes its investigation into the death of Bryan Nevins.
In a letter to the Woods Services president, Deputy Secretary Richard Gold cited what he called "gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct" by employees there that led to Nevins' heat-related death last month.
The revocation applies to just one of 37 licenses held by Woods Services for its Langhorne campus. Most of the nearly 1,400 special-needs clients aren't affected.
To Read the Full Article, Please Click the Following Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100805_State_revokes_license_of_center_where_man_died.html
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
PA: Man With Autism Left in Hot Car by Caregiver Die
Man With Autism Left in Hot Car by Caregiver Dies
Disabled man spent more than 5-hours in car as temps soared over 150-degrees
By VINCE LATTANZIO
Updated 11:21 AM EDT, Tue, Jul 27, 2010
Investigators want to know how a man with autism could be left inside a van for hours in the intense heat just steps from the facility where he lived.
The unidentified 20-year-old man died after spending more than five hours inside a van operated by Woods Services in Middletown Township, Pa. last Saturday, police say.
The man, whose autism left him unable to speak, was in the backseat of the van for a return trip from Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pa. with three other residents and two caregivers.
Once back on the grounds of the facility, two of the residents were taken inside by one caregiver, police said.
*********************************
When it was determined the man was missing, staff conducted a search of the buildings and subsequently the vehicle where he was found dead.
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The driver of the van and a coworker were both suspended after the man's death. Investigators are also looking into the possibility of whether criminal charges are warranted in the case.
For the full article, please follow this link: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Autistic-Man-Left-in-Hot-Car-by-Caregiver-Dies-99292304.html
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
MA: Prosecutor: Mom drugged girl, 4, to death
NOTE: There are quite a number of issues here: first, a psychiatrist who diagnosed the little girl with ADHD at age 2, bipolar disorder at age 3, and prescribed medications not approved for use in young children; next, parents allegedly over-medicated her and then didn't seek medical treatment after she developed pneumonia; and finally - a preschool, where staff are all mandated reporters - did not report their suspicions of abuse by over-medicating, even after the school principal reported that once the child was so "floppy" and lethargic - to the extent that the child was unable to walk on her own - that the principal personally had to carry the child into the school building after she'd been dropped off.
The end result: A dead four year old little girl. And the tragedies continue...
‘Evil scheme’ to get Social Security benefits alleged in Mass. trial
updated 4:52 a.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 20, 2010
BROCKTON, Mass. - In an "evil scheme," a Massachusetts mother fabricated symptoms of mental illness to get her 4-year-old daughter powerful drugs, then overmedicated the girl and allowed her to die when she became ill with pneumonia, a prosecutor said Tuesday at the woman's murder trial.
Assistant District Attorney Frank Middleton said Carolyn Riley took her daughter, Rebecca, to a psychiatrist when she was 28 months old in hopes of getting her diagnosed with mental illness and put on drugs so she and her husband could collect Social Security disability payments for the girl.
Middleton said Carolyn Riley consistently overmedicated the girl, giving her more than the amount prescribed by a psychiatrist. Then, when the girl became ill with pneumonia in the final days of her life, Carolyn Riley ignored the urgent pleas of three people who lived with them and refused to take her daughter to a doctor. Instead, Middleton said, she gave her daughter almost twice the amount of drugs prescribed by the psychiatrist.
"This defendant began an evil scheme that ended in murder," Middleton said.
Husband also faces trial
Riley and her husband, Michael, are both accused of murder in their daughter's December 2006 death in Hull. Michael Riley will go on trial after his wife.
Middleton showed jurors a note written by Carolyn Riley in which she detailed how much money the family was collecting through Social Security disability benefits — $2,668 per month — and how much additional money she hoped to collect — $633 per month — if she could convince Social Security doctors that Rebecca also had a mental disability.
But Carolyn Riley's attorney, Victoria Bonilla, said Carolyn took Rebecca to a psychiatrist when she was 2 because she was concerned about the girl, who was very active and had difficulty sleeping.
She said Carolyn Riley followed the instructions of the psychiatrist, Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, who diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when the girl was 2 and bipolar disorder shortly after she turned 3. It was Dr. Kifuji, Bonilla said, who prescribed Clonidine for the ADHD and Depakote for bipolar disorder.
Defense: ‘Not nefarious’
"This is not nefarious," Bonilla said, but consistent with common medical practice to treat ADHD with Clonidine.
Bonilla also disputed allegations made by prosecutors that Carolyn Riley ignored pleas to help her daughter after she became ill with pneumonia. She said Carolyn Riley bought her daughter some children's cold medicine and gave it to her.
"Carolyn Riley did everything she could to treat her child. Carolyn Riley thought her daughter had a cold," she said.
Bonilla said a defense medical expert, as well as a prosecution expert, came to the conclusion that Rebecca died of pneumonia, not a drug overdose.
"She did not die at the hands of her mother," Bonilla said.
Middleton, however, said that in the last year of her life, Rebecca Riley was given well over the amount of Clonidine prescribed by Kifuji.
Middleton used a gruesome photo of Rebecca in his opening statement to the jury.
The photo, taken by police after her mother found her dead on the floor of their bedroom, shows the little girl wearing only a pink pull-up diaper, lying on a pile of magazines and clothing and a stuffed bear. She had a pink liquid oozing from her nose and mouth.
Carolyn Riley showed little emotion after her daughter was found dead, Middleton said. Later that day, he said, when Carolyn and Michael Riley went to get their daughter's things at her school, the principal saw them "joking and laughing" outside the school.
But Bonilla said Carolyn Riley was a "loving and caring parent," and was seen distraught by emergency responders after she found her daughter dead on the floor near her bed.
"She was cradling the child. She was hysterical," Bonilla said.
Like a ‘floppy doll’
One of the first witnesses to testify for prosecutors was Ellen McCarthy, the nurse at the Weymouth preschool Rebecca attended during the year before her death.
McCarthy said that in the months before her death, Rebecca was so lethargic and weak she was like a "floppy doll."
"When she was in the gym, she would sit down on the floor with me and she would just flop down," McCarthy said.
McCarthy said she was concerned about the amount of medication Rebecca was taking. She also said no one at Rebecca's preschool saw the aggressive or violent behavior Carolyn Riley described when explaining why Rebecca was on the powerful drugs.
The school principal, Victoria Silverstein, said that she once had to help Rebecca get off the school van after the driver called in and said the girl was shaking. Silverstein said that when she went to help her, Rebecca collapsed, "so I picked her up in my arms and carried her into the school."
Assistant District Attorney Frank Middleton said Carolyn Riley took her daughter, Rebecca, to a psychiatrist when she was 28 months old in hopes of getting her diagnosed with mental illness and put on drugs so she and her husband could collect Social Security disability payments for the girl.
Middleton said Carolyn Riley consistently overmedicated the girl, giving her more than the amount prescribed by a psychiatrist. Then, when the girl became ill with pneumonia in the final days of her life, Carolyn Riley ignored the urgent pleas of three people who lived with them and refused to take her daughter to a doctor. Instead, Middleton said, she gave her daughter almost twice the amount of drugs prescribed by the psychiatrist.
"This defendant began an evil scheme that ended in murder," Middleton said.
Husband also faces trial
Riley and her husband, Michael, are both accused of murder in their daughter's December 2006 death in Hull. Michael Riley will go on trial after his wife.
Middleton showed jurors a note written by Carolyn Riley in which she detailed how much money the family was collecting through Social Security disability benefits — $2,668 per month — and how much additional money she hoped to collect — $633 per month — if she could convince Social Security doctors that Rebecca also had a mental disability.
But Carolyn Riley's attorney, Victoria Bonilla, said Carolyn took Rebecca to a psychiatrist when she was 2 because she was concerned about the girl, who was very active and had difficulty sleeping.
She said Carolyn Riley followed the instructions of the psychiatrist, Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, who diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when the girl was 2 and bipolar disorder shortly after she turned 3. It was Dr. Kifuji, Bonilla said, who prescribed Clonidine for the ADHD and Depakote for bipolar disorder.
Defense: ‘Not nefarious’
"This is not nefarious," Bonilla said, but consistent with common medical practice to treat ADHD with Clonidine.
Bonilla also disputed allegations made by prosecutors that Carolyn Riley ignored pleas to help her daughter after she became ill with pneumonia. She said Carolyn Riley bought her daughter some children's cold medicine and gave it to her.
"Carolyn Riley did everything she could to treat her child. Carolyn Riley thought her daughter had a cold," she said.
Bonilla said a defense medical expert, as well as a prosecution expert, came to the conclusion that Rebecca died of pneumonia, not a drug overdose.
"She did not die at the hands of her mother," Bonilla said.
Middleton, however, said that in the last year of her life, Rebecca Riley was given well over the amount of Clonidine prescribed by Kifuji.
Middleton used a gruesome photo of Rebecca in his opening statement to the jury.
The photo, taken by police after her mother found her dead on the floor of their bedroom, shows the little girl wearing only a pink pull-up diaper, lying on a pile of magazines and clothing and a stuffed bear. She had a pink liquid oozing from her nose and mouth.
Carolyn Riley showed little emotion after her daughter was found dead, Middleton said. Later that day, he said, when Carolyn and Michael Riley went to get their daughter's things at her school, the principal saw them "joking and laughing" outside the school.
But Bonilla said Carolyn Riley was a "loving and caring parent," and was seen distraught by emergency responders after she found her daughter dead on the floor near her bed.
"She was cradling the child. She was hysterical," Bonilla said.
Like a ‘floppy doll’
One of the first witnesses to testify for prosecutors was Ellen McCarthy, the nurse at the Weymouth preschool Rebecca attended during the year before her death.
McCarthy said that in the months before her death, Rebecca was so lethargic and weak she was like a "floppy doll."
"When she was in the gym, she would sit down on the floor with me and she would just flop down," McCarthy said.
McCarthy said she was concerned about the amount of medication Rebecca was taking. She also said no one at Rebecca's preschool saw the aggressive or violent behavior Carolyn Riley described when explaining why Rebecca was on the powerful drugs.
The school principal, Victoria Silverstein, said that she once had to help Rebecca get off the school van after the driver called in and said the girl was shaking. Silverstein said that when she went to help her, Rebecca collapsed, "so I picked her up in my arms and carried her into the school."
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
NV: Death of man who died in police struggle ruled homicide
By Tiffany Gibson (contact)
Published Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 | 1:51 p.m.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/09/death-man-who-died-police-struggle-ruled-homicide/
The death of a man who stopped breathing after Metro Police tried to subdue him by using a neck restraint has been ruled a homicide.
The Clark County Coroner's Office said Dustin Boone died Nov. 4 of cardiac pulmonary arrest, use of a neck restraint and significant other reasons related to dilated cardiomyopathy.
A coroner’s inquest has been scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 18 at the Regional Justice Center before Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson. Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said he will ask witnesses to testify at the inquest in front of Andress-Tobiasson and a jury.
Laurent said the death was ruled a homicide but it doesn’t prove malice. He said the jury will decide whether the death was criminal, justified or excusable.
“An inquest hinges on what’s on the officer’s mind at the time,” Laurent said. “A jury will decide that and whether or not that’s reasonable.”
Metro Police are also investigating Boone’s death, Laurent said.
Published Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 | 1:51 p.m.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/09/death-man-who-died-police-struggle-ruled-homicide/
The death of a man who stopped breathing after Metro Police tried to subdue him by using a neck restraint has been ruled a homicide.
The Clark County Coroner's Office said Dustin Boone died Nov. 4 of cardiac pulmonary arrest, use of a neck restraint and significant other reasons related to dilated cardiomyopathy.
A coroner’s inquest has been scheduled for 9 a.m. on Dec. 18 at the Regional Justice Center before Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson. Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said he will ask witnesses to testify at the inquest in front of Andress-Tobiasson and a jury.
Laurent said the death was ruled a homicide but it doesn’t prove malice. He said the jury will decide whether the death was criminal, justified or excusable.
“An inquest hinges on what’s on the officer’s mind at the time,” Laurent said. “A jury will decide that and whether or not that’s reasonable.”
Metro Police are also investigating Boone’s death, Laurent said.
OH: Jessica Logan Suicide - Parents Of Dead Teen Sue School, Friends Over Sexting Harassment
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
First Posted: 12- 7-09 01:03 PM | Updated: 12- 9-09 01:47 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/jessica-logan-suicide-par_n_382825.html
The parents of Jessica Logan, a teen who committed suicide a month after graduating from high-school, are suing their daughter's ex-boyfriend, who circulated among his friends a nude photo of Jessica that she had "sexted" (sent via text message) to him while they were dating.
Jessica's parents are also suing the school she attended, Sycamore High, for negligence, as well as several of the teens to whom Jessica's boyfriend showed the picture, for "severe" emotional harassment.
Wired explains:
The suit was filed in Ohio by Cynthia and Albert Logan who say that the students' "degrading sexual insults" caused their 18-year-old daughter Jessica, their only child, severe emotional distress, which led her to kill herself in July 2008, a month after graduating from high school.
The complaint filed by the teen's parents names the city, school district, ex-boyfriend, and the friends to whom he purportedly sent the picture. The couple are seeking punitive damages for discrimination, civil rights violations, the invasion of privacy, and emotional distress, reports theCourthouse News Service.
The Courthouse News Service explains,
According to the federal complaint, the late Jessica Logan sent a nude picture of herself, from her neck down, to her boyfriend, defendant Ryan Salyers. After they broke up, he "proceeded to disseminate the photo of Jessica to a large number of other students at Sycamore High School and Loveland High School," according to the complaint.
Jessica Logan's parents and friends, interviewed here about the girl's sexting-related suicide here, report that the troubled teen suffered harassment both in school and out after her "sexted" photo was distributed among her peers.
Logan tried to get help from guidance counselors at her highschool, Sycamore High, as well as local police, but was unable to stop the namecalling, teasing, and harassment.
Jessica Logan's mother, Cynthia, told WLWT news about her daughter's plight:
She was called filthy names, things thrown at her [...] Every single place she went they knew about that picture, they saw the picture. They knew about the picture! It's abuse. She was abused.
Jessica's friends and mother report that she would skip school or hide in the bathroom at school in an attempt to avoid the her peers, who reportedly called her a "slut," "whore" and "skank."
After attending the funeral for a friend who had committed suicide in July 2008, Jessica Logan came home and killed herself by hanging herself in her room.
Her mother told WLWT in an interview that when she found her daughter's body, "her cell phone was in the middle of the floor."
A recently released study found that over one quarter of teens had engaged in "sexting" ("sharing sexually explicit photos, videos and chat by cell phone or online"), and that a third of young adults had engaged in the practice.
It doesn't stop there -- The AP notes, "Seventeen percent of people who received naked pictures said they passed them along to someone else, often to more than just one person."
Watch MSNBC's coverage of the Jessica Logan story, which includes clips of an interview Jessica did two months before committing suicide, in the video below.
A full copy of the Logan's federal complain is available from Courthouse News Service here.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
PA: Death of disabled man at Krol center remains a mystery
IT WAS after midnight in mid-April, and Greg Harlen would not stop screaming in his room at the Cardinal Krol Center.
Harlen, 52, a resident of the Philadelphia Archdiocese-run home for mentally handicapped men, was lying in his bed, writhing in pain.
Both of his hips had been shattered.
Later that morning, staffers decided to call 9-1-1. Harlen, who had Down syndrome, was taken to Springfield Hospital - nearly 20 hours after he is believed to have suffered a mysterious trauma that broke his hips.
He died in the hospital about a month later of complications from his injuries.
"I can't imagine the pain he was in," said Harlen's sister, Sheila Phelan. "I don't understand why they didn't send him to the hospital long before they did."
Harlen's death has renewed scrutiny of the center's operations, five years after the state Health Department released a scathing report that said the 131-bed home in Delaware County had failed to protect its residents from sexual abuse by another resident - and other serious violations.
"What's happening out there?" Phelan asked. "Is this normal, that people scream?"
Archdiocese spokeswoman Donna Farrell said she couldn't comment on Harlen's case because the investigation was ongoing.
"Greg's death was a real loss and hit everyone here very hard," she said.
It remains unclear how Harlen was injured, whether he was beaten by another person or fell. He was unable to speak afterward.
Harlen's family believes that he was assaulted by a caregiver there, but police are awaiting the neuropathology results from his autopsy before deciding whether to proceed with a criminal investigation.
Philadelphia's Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services determined last month that Harlen, formerly of Northeast Philadelphia, should have been taken to the hospital sooner.
The department found that, "given the intensity and duration" of Harlen's crying on April 16 and 17 and other indications that he was in pain, "more timely action should have been taken by the agency to assess Mr. Harlen for injuries and necessary medical treatment."
Records show that the center, in Marple Township across from Ss. Peter and Paul Cemetery, has repeatedly been cited by the state in recent years for a range of violations, some of which are recurring.
Over the past year alone, the center's state-issued certification of compliance was temporarily revoked twice due to "serious substandard conditions" there.
"Many of them are very serious violations," said Jacqueline Beilharz, of the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, a federally mandated nonprofit that seeks to protect the civil rights of people with disabilities.
Health Department inspectors have found that the center has failed to maintain complete medical records, properly train its staff, protect residents from physical abuse by other residents and conduct full background checks on some employees.
Kathy Perry, of the Arc of Delaware County, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, said her office has received several complaints about the center.
IL: School superintendent investigated before death
State police reports obtained by the Belleville News-Democrat under the Freedom of Information Act showed agents interviewed Hawkins on April 13 and confiscated several computers.
In May, Hawkins' body was found in a 1964 Mustang convertible in a barn near Belleville. The cause of his death appeared to be suicide by carbon monoxide asphyxiation.
Reports showed at least five possible victims, including a minor who was interviewed by police the week after Hawkins' death.
In an interview with Illinois State Police, Hawkins denied sexual relationships with any student but admitted to having what he called inappropriate sexual conversations with some students.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
MT: Lawuits Mount Against Spring Creek Lodge (2006 Article)
NOTE: We just recently came across this article on Spring Creek Lodge. Although it's from three years ago, we wanted to bring this to your attention, because this school is still open!
by John S. Adams
Missoula Independent
November 23, 2006
http://www.isaccorp.org/springcreek/spring-creek-lodge.11.23.06.html
On Oct. 7, 2004, just days before her 17th birthday, Karlye Anne Newman slipped into a bathroom at Spring Creek Lodge Academy—a behavior modification boarding school outside Thompson Falls—and hanged herself in a stall with her sweatshirt.
The Sanders County Sheriff’s Department investigated Newman’s death, found no signs of foul play, and ruled it a suicide.
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) also investigated Newman’s death. As a result of that investigation, a Montana PBS documentary recently revealed, DPHHS filed a child abuse and neglect complaint against Cameron and Chaffin Pullan, the twin brothers who own and operate Spring Creek Lodge. The case was ultimately dismissed, and due to a state law designed to protect juvenile victims of abuse, it remains sealed from public scrutiny. As a result, few details about DPHHS’ investigation or the facts surrounding Newman’s death have been revealed to the public.
Some of those facts may soon surface in court now that Karlye’s mother, Judith Newman, has filed a lawsuit against Spring Creek Lodge and the Pullans. Filed Nov. 6, the complaint alleges wrongful death, negligence, breach of contract and fraud on behalf of the school and its directors. It’s the third in a string of lawsuits filed this year naming Spring Creek Lodge as a defendant.
In March, former Spring Creek Lodge student Jonathan Herrick filed a lawsuit in Sanders County District Court alleging negligence and breach of contract by Spring Creek Lodge. Herrick’s suit claims Spring Creek’s inadequate staffing and oversight policies led to repeated physical and psychological assaults against him during the time he was a student there. The five-page complaint doesn’t detail the alleged abuses, other than to say that Herrick “suffered serious physical, mental and emotional injuries” while at Spring Creek. Polson attorney James Manley, lead counsel on both the Herrick and Newman lawsuits, declined to comment specifically on either case.
Additionally, in October Spring Creek was added to a long list of defendants in a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Utah. That suit alleges negligence, fraud, breach of contract, battery, assault, false imprisonment and racketeering violations—among others—on behalf of the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (widely known as WWASPS) and its associated programs, which until June included Spring Creek Lodge. The 36-page complaint currently lists 27 plaintiffs, though Dallas, Texas attorney Windle Turley said he expects to add “many more” to the suit in the coming months. Turley said he couldn’t comment on which of the complaint’s allegations pertain specifically to Spring Creek Lodge.
At press time the two Montana lawsuits had not yet been served. Spring Creek Program Director Mike Chism said Nov. 20 that Spring Creek officials weren’t aware of them and thus declined to comment. As for the Utah suit, Chism said, three plaintiffs are former Spring Creek students, though he declined to identify which three. He also said the three students had been enrolled in other WWASPS programs either prior to, or after leaving, Spring Creek.
“The lawsuit is really vague,” Chism said, noting that the complaint doesn’t specify whether any of the alleged crimes were supposed to have occurred at Spring Creek.
The Newman lawsuit, however, is more specific, and mirrors many of the allegations DPHHS initially made against the Pullans, as reported by Montana PBS.
According to the Newman lawsuit, Spring Creek’s program “was not designed or operated to provide quality or even adequate care” and the defendants “planned and operated Spring Creek Lodge Academy in such a manner that physical, educational, mental or emotional harm was consistently and foreseeably caused to the children at Spring Creek, including Karlye Newman.”
Karlye’s mother alleges that Spring Creek staff concealed the fact that Karlye was not progressing well in the program and that she had deteriorated physically, mentally and emotionally in the months she was enrolled at Spring Creek. Judith claims her daughter expressed “self loathing, hatred of her life there, depression and despair,” and that Karlye made repeated statements that she was going to kill herself, but that those statements were ignored by Spring Creek staff.
According to the Montana PBS documentary “Who’s Watching the Kids,” (which can be viewed online at http://www.montanapbs.org/WhosWatchingTheKids* [Note: this link is now broken]), DPHHS charged that Cameron and Chaffin Pullan, as officials of the school, neglected Karlye when she became suicidal by not providing her adequate therapy. “Who’s Watching the Kids?” also reported that DPHHS alleged that Spring Creek employees placed Karlye in solitary confinement for periods of hours, sometimes days, “damaging her mentally.” Finally, according to the documentary, the department alleged that Spring Creek’s method for keeping track of students was inadequate in that it left Karlye alone long enough to commit suicide.
A DPHHS hearings examiner initially dismissed the department’s complaint on the basis that 1) DPPHS lacked the legal authority to regulate the school; for that reason, the department can’t declare Spring Creek’s rules and regulations inadequate, and 2) the examiner didn’t believe DPHHS could prove its allegations of abuse and neglect. A district court judge upheld the hearings examiner’s ruling, and DPHHS appealed to the Montana Supreme Court before ultimately withdrawing the administrative charges.
In a statement issued by the school following Karlye Newman’s death, Spring Creek officials claimed that “SCLA [Spring Creek Lodge Academy] was acutely aware of the girl’s fragility and had placed her on ‘high risk’ observation. After showing signs of improvement, the 16-year-old student was recently removed from high risk after consultation with the student’s counselor, the assistant clinical director and four staff members who had worked closely with her.”
But Judith Newman claims the staff never sought or conducted a competent suicide evaluation for Karlye and then failed to take appropriate steps to monitor, supervise and protect the teen.
According to the complaint, Karlye was missing for more than an hour before she was discovered hanging in the bathroom.
“Defendants made no attempt to look for her, or otherwise protect her,” the complaint states. “When a staff member found Karlye hanging, the untrained and unqualified staff member ran out in panic. Defendants failed to provide immediate and necessary aid which might have saved Karlye’s life.”
Manley said he expects the Herrick and Newman lawsuits to go to trial sometime next year. Turley says it could be years before the Utah lawsuit goes to a jury trial.
jadams@missoulanews.com
TX: Lubbock State School worker turns himself in
09:15 AM CST on Saturday, November 7, 2009
The Associated Press
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-stateschool_07met.ART.State.Edition1.4badeb0.html
LUBBOCK – The fired Lubbock State School worker accused in the death of a resident has turned himself in.
Thirty-eight-year-old Doneil Smith was indicted on a manslaughter charge last month.
He remains in Lubbock County Jail with bail set at $50,000.
A woman at the office of his attorney, Frederick Stangl, said Stangl was unavailable to comment Friday.
A coroner ruled that the death in June of Michael Nicholson, 45, was caused by suffocation during a struggle.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that agency documents indicate Smith allegedly restrained Nicholson by sitting on him.
Six state school workers, including Smith, were fired after the incident. Laura Albrecht, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, says the firings were tied to the "physical abuse and neglect" of a resident.
The school is now called the Lubbock State Supported Living Center.
The Associated Press
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-stateschool_07met.ART.State.Edition1.4badeb0.html
LUBBOCK – The fired Lubbock State School worker accused in the death of a resident has turned himself in.
Thirty-eight-year-old Doneil Smith was indicted on a manslaughter charge last month.
He remains in Lubbock County Jail with bail set at $50,000.
A woman at the office of his attorney, Frederick Stangl, said Stangl was unavailable to comment Friday.
A coroner ruled that the death in June of Michael Nicholson, 45, was caused by suffocation during a struggle.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reports that agency documents indicate Smith allegedly restrained Nicholson by sitting on him.
Six state school workers, including Smith, were fired after the incident. Laura Albrecht, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, says the firings were tied to the "physical abuse and neglect" of a resident.
The school is now called the Lubbock State Supported Living Center.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Opinion/Commentary: Georgia Court of Appeals Finds School not Liable for Hanging Death
November 6, 2009
By Jennifer Searcy
Founder/Director of Public Policy & Affairs
The Coalition for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
http://tcfpbis.blogspot.com
On November 15, 2004, Johnathan King hung himself with a macramé belt in a locked "time out room" while a student at the Pioneer Regional Education Service Agency.
Johnathan's parents filed a lawsuit against the GA Dept of Education and Pioneer RESA, alleging that Johnathan's rights were violated when the school failed to keep him safe while in confinement. Pioneer contended they were "not responsible or negligent in any way" and had no "affirmative duty" to prevent Johnathan's suicide.
A Hall County Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit, but suggested that school employees acted with negligence.
The Kings then filed an appeal.
On November 5, 2009, the GA Court of Appeals heard the case of KING v. PIONEER REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGENCY and confirmed that Pioneer RESA was not liable in the Jonathan King case.
One reason the school was found not liable for his hanging death while in a "time out room" was because the two paraprofessionals working with him that day (one was a substitute) were not told of his multiple prior suicide threats, some made while in seclusion just 2 weeks before. Alpine psychologists and other staff members knew of these threats, yet did not inform those parapros; therefore, the Court reasoned that the parapros were not "deliberately indifferent" - just "uninformed" - so could not have violated Johnathan's "due process rights."
An argument could have been (and should have been) made that Alpine was "deliberately indifferent" by not informing staff who had been assigned to Johnathan of his previous suicide threats - threats he'd made while in seclusion.
The Court also did not appear to have addressed how Johnathan's could have committed suicide in the first place, as a paraprofessional was assigned to keep an eye on him through a window in the "time out room's" door. Supposedly the child's hanging occurred out of the parapro's line of site...
Perhaps if his previous threats of suicide had been taken more seriously, perhaps if staff had taken possession of the macrame belt, perhaps if those assigned to him had paid more attention while they were standing outside his door and actually took the time to look through the window and notice he was tying that belt around his neck and stringing himself up - perhaps THEN Johnathan would be alive today.
Yet the school is not liable for his death...
Below is a partial transcript. The full text can be found here:
http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=ingaco20091105265
Here, there is no evidence that the two Alpine employees who were responsible for putting Jonathan in the time-out room (Trotter and Jackson) on the day that he committed suicide acted with deliberate indifference. Both Trotter, who was working only his second day as a substitute paraprofessional at Alpine, and Jackson testified that they were not made aware by other staff that Jonathan had ever threatened to harm himself and did not know of any reason why he would do so. In fact, the Kings acknowledge that neither Jackson nor Trotter had been made aware of the alleged suicidal threats that Jonathan had made while confined to the time-out room a few weeks prior to his death. Thus, in sending Jonathan to the time-out room, neither Trotter nor Jackson deliberately disregarded a strong likelihood that Jonathan would harm himself. See id. at 955 (III).
Accordingly, even if we were to conclude that Jonathan's confinement created an affirmative duty for Pioneer RESA to protect him from harming himself, the Kings
have not demonstrated that the two school officials actually responsible for that confinement deprived Jonathan of his substantive due process rights.
(b) Pioneer RESA was not responsible for Jonathan's suicide. The Kings also contend that Pioneer RESA's conduct, policies, and employee training procedures demonstrated a deliberate indifference to its duty to protect Jonathan from harming himself. This contention is without merit. As discussed in Division 1 (a), the Kings have failed to show that Jonathan was deprived of his right to substantive due process by any school officials. Without an underlying violation of Jonathan's constitutional rights, Pioneer RESA cannot be liable on the ground that its conduct, policies, or training procedures caused a constitutional violation. See Collins, supra, 503 U. S. at 120 (I); City of Los Angeles v. Heller;[ 27 ] Gish, supra, 516 F3d at 955 (III). Accordingly, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment to Pioneer RESA as to the Kings' claims under 42 USC § 1983.
By Jennifer Searcy
Founder/Director of Public Policy & Affairs
The Coalition for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
http://tcfpbis.blogspot.com
On November 15, 2004, Johnathan King hung himself with a macramé belt in a locked "time out room" while a student at the Pioneer Regional Education Service Agency.
Johnathan's parents filed a lawsuit against the GA Dept of Education and Pioneer RESA, alleging that Johnathan's rights were violated when the school failed to keep him safe while in confinement. Pioneer contended they were "not responsible or negligent in any way" and had no "affirmative duty" to prevent Johnathan's suicide.
A Hall County Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit, but suggested that school employees acted with negligence.
The Kings then filed an appeal.
On November 5, 2009, the GA Court of Appeals heard the case of KING v. PIONEER REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGENCY and confirmed that Pioneer RESA was not liable in the Jonathan King case.
One reason the school was found not liable for his hanging death while in a "time out room" was because the two paraprofessionals working with him that day (one was a substitute) were not told of his multiple prior suicide threats, some made while in seclusion just 2 weeks before. Alpine psychologists and other staff members knew of these threats, yet did not inform those parapros; therefore, the Court reasoned that the parapros were not "deliberately indifferent" - just "uninformed" - so could not have violated Johnathan's "due process rights."
An argument could have been (and should have been) made that Alpine was "deliberately indifferent" by not informing staff who had been assigned to Johnathan of his previous suicide threats - threats he'd made while in seclusion.
The Court also did not appear to have addressed how Johnathan's could have committed suicide in the first place, as a paraprofessional was assigned to keep an eye on him through a window in the "time out room's" door. Supposedly the child's hanging occurred out of the parapro's line of site...
Perhaps if his previous threats of suicide had been taken more seriously, perhaps if staff had taken possession of the macrame belt, perhaps if those assigned to him had paid more attention while they were standing outside his door and actually took the time to look through the window and notice he was tying that belt around his neck and stringing himself up - perhaps THEN Johnathan would be alive today.
Yet the school is not liable for his death...
Below is a partial transcript. The full text can be found here:
http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=ingaco20091105265
Here, there is no evidence that the two Alpine employees who were responsible for putting Jonathan in the time-out room (Trotter and Jackson) on the day that he committed suicide acted with deliberate indifference. Both Trotter, who was working only his second day as a substitute paraprofessional at Alpine, and Jackson testified that they were not made aware by other staff that Jonathan had ever threatened to harm himself and did not know of any reason why he would do so. In fact, the Kings acknowledge that neither Jackson nor Trotter had been made aware of the alleged suicidal threats that Jonathan had made while confined to the time-out room a few weeks prior to his death. Thus, in sending Jonathan to the time-out room, neither Trotter nor Jackson deliberately disregarded a strong likelihood that Jonathan would harm himself. See id. at 955 (III).
Accordingly, even if we were to conclude that Jonathan's confinement created an affirmative duty for Pioneer RESA to protect him from harming himself, the Kings
have not demonstrated that the two school officials actually responsible for that confinement deprived Jonathan of his substantive due process rights.
(b) Pioneer RESA was not responsible for Jonathan's suicide. The Kings also contend that Pioneer RESA's conduct, policies, and employee training procedures demonstrated a deliberate indifference to its duty to protect Jonathan from harming himself. This contention is without merit. As discussed in Division 1 (a), the Kings have failed to show that Jonathan was deprived of his right to substantive due process by any school officials. Without an underlying violation of Jonathan's constitutional rights, Pioneer RESA cannot be liable on the ground that its conduct, policies, or training procedures caused a constitutional violation. See Collins, supra, 503 U. S. at 120 (I); City of Los Angeles v. Heller;[ 27 ] Gish, supra, 516 F3d at 955 (III). Accordingly, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment to Pioneer RESA as to the Kings' claims under 42 USC § 1983.
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