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Conflicting Accounts Surround Death Of Teen At Facility
By Dave Reynolds
Inclusion Daily Express
September 28, 2005
ASHLAND CITY, TN—
An Amityville, New York family wants answers to
questions surrounding the death of their teenage girl who died last week
in a Tennessee mental health youth treatment center.
Fourteen-year-old Linda Harris died Sunday,
September 18, after collapsing at Chad Youth Enhancement Center, a
psychiatric facility housing about 75 youths between age 7 and 17. New
York's Suffolk County Family Court had sent her to the facility just a
week earlier for psychological treatment.
The girl's father, Purcell Harris, and brother,
Reggie Snell, have received conflicting reports from facility officials,
local law enforcement agencies, and from an emergency room witness.
"I think they messed up -- they did something to
her," Snell said. "I mean, a week ago she was just fine when she left
here, and then she just passes away a week after she gets there. That's
not right. If she was out of control, they should have called one of us.
It hurt my heart."
A facility official told Newsday that Harris was
being escorted to a "time out" room when she collapsed and stopped
breathing. A doctor at the center reportedly performed CPR on Harris
while paramedics were called. But the girl was later declared dead at a
nearby hospital.
A local sheriff's official said their office
received a call that night saying Harris had stopped breathing after
being physically restrained by a male worker who fell to the floor with
her while trying to redirect her to the "time out" room. The facility
suspended one employee, who was not named in news reports, pending the
outcome of investigations.
Preliminary autopsy results on September 20 ruled
out trauma from force as a cause of Harris' death. [Emphasis added] The
Tennessee medical examiner is waiting for toxicology results, which may
not be available for up to a month.
Last Saturday, Newsday reported that a Tennessee
woman, who claimed to be in the emergency room when Harris was brought
in, told Suffolk officials that paramedics found the girl with scraped
elbows, blood in her mouth, and in physical restraints when they arrived
at the facility to try to resuscitate her. [Emphasis added]
"If that poor girl was hurt in any way, people need
to know," said Donna Hodges, who said she and her son were in the
emergency bay next to the one Harris was brought into.
New York and Tennessee officials said they would
follow up on Hodges' account.
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