Justice has not been served. That?s what the family of Isaiah Simmons III, 17, of Baltimore, said when it learned Tuesday that a Carroll Circuit grand jury indicted six employees of a Carroll juvenile facility on charges of reckless endangerment.
“We feel it?s manslaughter,” said Danielle Carter, a sister of Simmons, who died Jan. 23 after staff members at Bowling Brook Preparatory School in Keymar restrained him for hours after an outburst. “Based on the fact that my brother is no longer here, that?s manslaughter.”
Six staff members ? five from Maryland and one from Pennsylvania ? face up to five years of incarceration and a $5,000 fine for reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor.
School staff failed to call 911 until 41 minutes after Simmons passed out and continued restraining him “on and off,” Carroll County State?s Attorney Jerry Barnes said.
“They thought he was faking,” Barnes said.
Steven Heisler, a lawyer for the Simmons family, said they were pleading with Barnes to charge the staffers with manslaughter ? a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
“Obviously, we are outraged that 41 minutes would elapse,” Heisler said. “There was utter confusion. Something was going on. Something broke down.”
Restraining juvenile offenders was common at Bowling Brook for several years, said Detective Doug Epperson from the Carroll County Sheriff?s Office.
The grand jury?s acknowledgment that the school staff was responsible for Simmons? death shows that staffers neglected to save Simmons, resulting in death ? the very definition of manslaughter, Simmons? family and their lawyer said.
“This is textbook manslaughter,” Heisler said.
If the employees don?t turn themselves in soon, Barnes said, sheriff?s deputies will arrest them.
The FBI continues its own investigation into Simmons? death, which led to Bowling Brook?s closure last month and to reforms in the training of staff at juvenile facilities across the state.
Those under indictment are:
Michael Paul Corradi, 31, Middleton
Jason Willie Robinson, 25, Westminster
Mark Richard Sainato, 36, Keymar
Brian Gerard Kanavy, 31, Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Dennis Harding, 31, Baltimore
Shadi Sabbagh, 33, Keymar
