March 7, 2002
Death Suit With Boot Camp Settled
Phoenix -- A settlement has
brought an end to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a
teen-age boy who died at a boot camp for troubled youths last
summer, according to the parents.
The boot camp near Phoenix was
shut down after A.H., 14, died there July 1 of complications of
dehydration and near-drowning. Two counselors had put him in a
bathtub to cool down after he collapsed in triple-digit heat.
``Justice is justice, no matter
what form it comes in, but there is nothing on earth that will bring
my son back and nothing that will ease the pain,'' T.H.'s father,
G.H., said from his home in Hannibal, Mo.
G.H. would not discuss the terms
of the settlement.
The lawsuit named the boot camp,
its director, Charles F. Long II, and other staff and counselors as
defendants. The camp was operated by the America's Buffalo Soldiers
Re-enactors Association.
Long, reached at his home
Wednesday, declined to comment and referred questions to his
attorney, David Davis. The lawyer did not immediately return
messages left Wednesday.
The lawsuit didn't ask for a
specific amount of money but asked that an award cover medical and
funeral expenses plus compensation for suffering.
Long pleaded innocent last month
to a second-degree murder charge filed in T.H.'s death. He was
released on $100,000 bond.
As part of a plea agreement, one
of the counselors, Troy A. Hutty, will be sentenced to probation on
a negligent homicide charge in return for telling prosecutors what
he knows about Long. Hutty was originally charged with manslaughter.
Two other boot camp staffers had
also been arrested. Ray Anderson, 39, was charged with child abuse
for allegedly spanking, stomping, beating and whipping more than 14
children.
A 17-year-old counselor was
charged with child abuse.
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