GA - Travis Parker, 13, dies while restrained at camp, 20 April 2005

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Boy's pleas for aid denied
Inhaler withheld, restrained teen died

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/07/05

A 13-year-old Douglas County boy who died after being restrained at a camp for troubled youngsters asked counselors for his asthma inhaler while he was held down, but no one gave it to him, state records show.

A Department of Human Resources report on the April 20 incident said Travis Parker asked for his inhaler during the first 10 to 15 minutes of the restraint, which lasted about an hour and a half. But because the boy was not wheezing or showing signs of an asthmatic attack, camp counselors said, they did not provide him with it, the report said.

Travis went limp during the restraint and counselors could not feel his pulse, the records show. He died the next day at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, after being taken off life support.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the incident, which occurred at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp, an outdoor therapeutic program operated by the DHR in the North Georgia mountains. The results of an autopsy are pending.

On Friday, the boy's family made their first public statement since his death.

"The family of Travis Parker is devastated and outraged by his passing at such a tender age and in such a horrendous manner," said the statement provided by attorney Michael Tyler.

The boy's grandmother, Golden Griffin, who had been raising Travis, is in a state of "profound shock and grief," the statement said.

"The family of Travis Parker expected that at the Appalachian Wilderness camp, Travis would receive nurturing and support," the statement said. "Instead, sadly it appears the young Travis Parker received brutality and death."

The DHR file on the boy, obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution through the state Open Records law, contains a detailed account of the incident compiled by Sarah Hopper, consumer protection manager for the agency's North Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases. The account is based on interviews with counselors involved in the incident and children who witnessed it.

The report says that one counselor, a certified wilderness emergency medical technician, "saw no indication of an asthmatic attack so did not break the hold in order to give Travis his inhaler."

"He was laughing, screaming and yelling. He had a history of asking for his inhaler when in a hold. He was not wheezing."

Counselors told Hopper that the boy had used his inhaler only once since he had begun the camp two months before.

Dr. Amy Hirsh, of the Peachtree Allergy and Asthma Clinic in Atlanta, would not comment on the incident specifically, but said: "Untrained medical professionals should not make a judgment call on whether a patient needs his or her rescue inhaler or not. If a child asks for a rescue inhaler, they should be given it immediately without questioning whether they need it or not."

Ten children witnessed the boy's restraint, the DHR file said. Some of the boys who were there said that when Travis went limp the counselors said, "He is playing the dead fish game, he's faking."

Counselors, who provided handwritten accounts of the incident, say they repeatedly checked to ensure the boy was being restrained correctly. He continued to violently resist, they said.

The boy was placed in a "full basket restraint," a separate incident report by the state Department of Juvenile Justice said. He was held face down on the ground. His arms were crossed in front of him and held from behind by one counselor, the incident report said. He was forced to the ground, where another counselor held his legs and another counselor held his hips, the report said.

The juvenile justice agency doesn't allow the method of face-down restraint used by the counselors because it can restrict breathing.

One counselor wrote that he checked Travis' breathing and circulation several times during the restraint. At one point, he said, another counselor tried to remove a rock that Travis said was hurting his head. The boy bit his hand, the counselor said.

Another counselor said in his account that a blanket was placed under Travis to make him more comfortable during the hold.

At 11 p.m., he said, the boy was still fighting.

At 11:30 p.m., another counselor reported, "Travis stops responding and is released from restraint."
 
:furious: :furious: :furious: :furious: :furious:

OMG!!! What a hideous, scary way to die!!! I hope there's hell to pay for this!
Poor boy!!! :( :(
 
I agree, and the guilt that the parents must feel has to be horrible. They sent their child there to learn some respect, not die while being forced to the ground.

Another thing that bothers me, is the "full basket restraint" technique that they used. I don't see how that's supposed to help, honestly.
 
It is situations like this, that makes me believe that sending a child off to be helped with problems they have, is not a good idea. You don't know what the child will be going through unless you are right there with them, and more than likely any problems won't occur while you are there with them.
 
"He was laughing, screaming and yelling. He had a history of asking for his inhaler when in a hold. He was not wheezing."

Counselors told Hopper that the boy had used his inhaler only once since he had begun the camp two months before.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

How could he have a history of asking for inhaler, if he had only used his inhaler one time in the prior two months?
 
blueberryeyore said:
It is situations like this, that makes me believe that sending a child off to be helped with problems they have, is not a good idea. You don't know what the child will be going through unless you are right there with them, and more than likely any problems won't occur while you are there with them.
i agree. I think that it would be better if the parents and the child could go together. Maybe learn how ways to communicate better, and so forth.
 
What idiots! As a long time Asthma sufferer I can tell you that every asthma attack does not involve wheezing and sometimes when I do wheeze it's 'felt' by me, but not heard by others. And sometime I just get a tightness almost like a feeling of panic and I have to take long deep breathes to feel like I am getting enough air and this occurs with no wheezing. That feeling of gasping for air is just horrible. What a terrible thing for this child to have gone through.

It just seems like there are so many child 'experts' these days and it doesn't take one to be seen as such. The parents are overwhelmed so they trust these 'experts' to fix their kids. UGH!
 
It seems that "holding therapy" and other forms of restaint have become very popular in the mental health field. I have seen some examples of it on TV and I think that it is very horrible to restrain a person until they feel panic. In some cases I saw on TV the person was imobolized in a blankey and someone basically sat on the kids chest. When he did not struggle they provoked him to a struggle. It was horrible. This is some sort of therapy that is supposed to create bonding or something. I don't think that is exactly what they were doing with this kid but I think it is related.

I think that if someone held me down I would get panicky and struggle.

I understand that restraint has to be done sometimes but I think it's use is getting too commonplace.
 
Six counselors at a state-run wilderness camp for troubled boys near Cleveland have been charged with murder in the death of a 13-year-old boy who was restrained for more than an hour earlier this year.

A White County grand jury handed down the charges of felony murder, child cruelty and involuntary manslaughter Monday.

``This is all based on the criminal negligence or reckless conduct of these individuals,'' said White County District Attorney Stan Gunter. ``It was due to the restraint, and how they applied it, that has led to these charges.''

Travis Parker died April 21, a day after he was held face down by counselors at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp. The boy had angrily confronted one of the counselors for denying him food as punishment.

Parker had asthma and was denied his inhaler during the restraint. A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/hall/newfullstory.asp?ID=94295
 
Six camp counselors were charged with murder Monday in the death of a Douglas County boy restrained for over an hour at a wilderness camp for troubled youngsters.

A White County grand jury deliberated for about an hour before returning the charges of felony murder, child cruelty and involuntary manslaughter. Travis Parker, 13, died April 21, the day after he was held face down by counselors at the state-run Appalachian Wilderness Camp in Cleveland, in the North Georgia mountains.
UbTTUWUXUTUZTZU]UWUbU_UZUcU^UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y&UrAuth=`N^NUObN]UbTTUWUXUTUZTZU_UWU\UVUZU\UaUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y]http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/0705/19a1camp.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild84=Cd4Ulu1D8FUTzUoq1ThEudnnEnKze9PmspdMKvVYrhHe2XPYHadI!-87538530&Found_Session=true&COXnetJSessionIDbuild84=Cderk6AA1aSed2lCS5L5XsfNCLGv2Kb1SO4KJmmco0ZU2M1pIfy5!-1509254827&UrAuth=`N^NUObN]UbTTUWUXUTUZTZU]UWUbU_UZUcU^UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y&UrAuth=`N^NUObN]UbTTUWUXUTUZTZU_UWU\UVUZU\UaUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y
 
7th June 2007:

Gainesville attorney Dan Summer, who represents Vining, said the judge should soon rule on a defense motion that asserts the counselors were never put on notice that the restraint technique was unlawful and that they were criminally negligent in using it. The defendants have said the technique was taught to them by state officials.

"This was the only tool they had to calm down campers," Summer said. The lawyer said Georgia's chief medical examiner, Kris Sperry, testified in a pretrial hearing that Travis died as a result of "extensive acidosis," that he overexerted himself fighting off the restraint.

"He was so out of control, so combative, that he literally struggled himself to death," Summer said.

http://gainesvillelegals.com/news/stories/20070607/localnews/177869.shtml

An autopsy determined the face-down restraint caused Travis' death.

Charged with felony murder, cruelty to children in the second degree and involuntary manslaughter are Ryan Chapman, Paul Binford, Mathew Desing, Torbin Vining, Johnny Harris and Phillip Elliott.
Mr. Gunter said he could make a decision within days. The trials of the workers had been set to start Monday but were postponed indefinitely.

Mr. Gunter said he is rethinking the murder charges due in large part to the pre-trial testimony of the medical examiner who performed the autopsy, Dr. Kris Sperry.

Dr. Sperry linked Travis' death to his prolonged resistance against the restraint. He said that if Travis had not struggled so long - up to 90 minutes - against the men restraining him, he would not have died.

The case against the camp workers has suffered several setbacks. The camp director testified that the workers applied the restraining hold as they had been taught.

None of the camp workers has accepted the plea bargains offered by the district attorney, at least one of which included no jail time....

[Camp worker Mr. Desing] said "We were trained by the state to do our job, and we did our job to the best of our ability," he said. "Now the state has come up with these murder charges."

http://m.chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2007/06/07/met_131289.shtml#gsc.tab=0
 
Superior Court Judge Lynn Akeley-Alderman ruled that the defendants had no way of knowing that the "full basket" technique they used to restrain Travis Parker would constitute reckless conduct...

Harold Spence, an attorney representing Travis' family, said the boy's grandmother, Golden Griffin, learned of the judge's order late Friday.

"Quite understandably she was profoundly disappointed in the court's ruling," Spence said. "Indeed, she was shocked by the court's ruling."

Spence confirmed that last year Griffin received a financial settlement from the Georgia Department of Human Resources, which manages the camp for troubled youth. He said the settlement was less than $2 million, but "well in excess of $1 million."

"We think, quite honestly, that the significant financial settlement represents the state's acknowledgement that these six employees were responsible for Travis' death," Spence said...

Georgia's chief medical examiner testified in a pretrial hearing that the boy struggled so much while being restrained that he overworked his heart and died as a result.

http://gainesvillelegals.com/news/stories/20070609/localnews/178233.shtml
 

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