Mother of dead camper sues Bend outdoor school
Lynn McAward files a $1.5 million dollar
suit against Obsidian Trails in the death of her son, William
"Eddie" Lee
Wednesday, January 17, 2001
By STEVE LUNDGREN
Correspondent, The Oregonian
BEND -- The mother of a 15-year-old Scappoose
boy who died while being restrained by a wilderness camp's
counselors in September filed a $1.5 million wrongful death lawsuit
against the camp Tuesday.
The suit names the Bend-based Obsidian Trails
Outdoor School; its parent company, Obsidian Services, Inc.; and its
president, Gregory Bodenhamer. It was filed in Deschutes County
Circuit Court in Bend by an attorney for Lynn McAward, the mother of
the boy, William "Eddie" Lee.
Bodenhamer declined to comment on the lawsuit.
On Sept. 18, Lee was on a camping trip in the
desert of northern Lake County with three counselors from Obsidian
Trails and three fellow students. According to the lawsuit and
earlier statements by the counselors, Lee had been escorted about
200 yards from the group's campsite to go to the bathroom.
When he would not return to the campsite, two
counselors tried to lead Lee back, the suit says. When Lee did not
cooperate, one counselor took him to the ground while another held
his legs. They held him face down on the ground until he stopped
struggling, the suit alleges. At that point, the counselors
discovered Lee was not breathing, according to the transcript of one
counselor's call to a 9-1-1 dispatcher.
Lee was flown to St. Charles Medical Center,
where he was declared dead that evening. A state medical examiner
reported Lee died of a basilar subarechnoid hemorrhage, which is an
injury to an artery on the left side of the neck near the base of
the skull. Lee also suffered fractures in two vertebrae in his neck,
but those fractures were not the cause of death, according to the
examiner's statement to the Lake County district attorney.
In November, a Lake County grand jury declined
to indict one of the counselors, Matthew Sharp, 22, on charges of
criminally negligent homicide. Two other counselors, Amy Ebeler and
Lisa Clark, were at the scene of Lee's death, according to the
lawsuit. However, neither was named in the criminal complaint, and
none of the counselors is a defendant in the lawsuit.
Lee went to the Obsidian Trails Outdoor School
because his mother hoped it would help him make the transition to
high school, according to the court document filed Tuesday. Lee had
suffered a brain injury when he was 15 months old that damaged his
eyesight, strength, coordination and "psychological well-being,"
according to the suit.
McAward chose Obsidian Trails partly because it
was not a "boot camp" type of school and did not use intimidation,
physical force or punishment, the suit states. According to Obsidian
Trails' Web site, the school was appropriate for "special needs
children." In addition, it states the school's policy prohibits
physical or emotional abuse of students and "inappropriate or
excessive use of restraint."
The suit, written by Everett Jack, a Portland
attorney representing McAward, claims that during the three-day
camp-out, counselors isolated Lee, took his shoes and told him he
could not have anything to eat until he finished a serving of cold
oats and dried milk.
After taking Lee down, "Sharp sat on top of
Eddie and applied excessive force to Eddie's back, neck and head,
while Clark, and later, Ebeler either together or individually, held
Eddie's legs," according to the suit. In earlier statements to The
Oregonian, Bodenhamer said Sharp had straddled Lee's hips and was
properly trained to handle the emergency.
The lawsuit claims Obsidian Trails was
negligent on 21 points. Most focus on the alleged lack of training,
supervision and excessive force used by its counselors. Under the
wrongful death suit, McAward and her attorney are seeking $10,000
for medical expenses, $500,000 for Lee's pain and suffering,
$500,000 for pecuniary, or financial losses, to his estate, and
$500,000 for loss of companionship.
Jack said he and his client have not decided
whether to pursue punitive damages.
A second part of the suit, which names Obsidian
Trails and Bodenhamer individually, seeks $23,000 as reimbursement
of the tuition McAward paid to have Lee in the Obsidian Trails
program.
That plea claims the school and Bodenhamer
misrepresented themselves by stating the school did not use
"physical punishment, bribery, coercion and food deprivation" as
disciplinary means.
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