Reckless-endangerment charges were dropped today against five counselors in the death of a 17-year-old at the Bowling Brook Preparatory School.
The counselors held down Isaiah Simmons, of East Baltimore, for nearly three hours on Jan. 23, 2007, and did not call 911 until 41 minutes after Simmons stopped breathing at the Carroll County juvenile facility, Carroll County prosecutors said.
The state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, and Simmons’ relatives, joined by civil rights leaders, have demanded felony manslaughter charges. Five of the six counselors who had been charged in Simmons? death are white, and Simmons was black.
Reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, excludes actions people do not take, Carroll Circuit Court Judge Michael Galloway said in his ruling.
“The purpose of the reckless endangerment statutes is to punish conduct that creates a substantial risk of serious injury or death,” Galloway wrote in an 11-page ruling. “The reckless endangerment statute has been deliberately construed to punish affirmative actions, rather than passive inactions.”
The Carroll state’s attorney’s office said it would appeal today’s decision to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
Galloway dropped charges against a sixth counselor Friday because, the judge said, he wasn?t near Simmons when the teen lost consciousness.
