The head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People joined Baltimore civil rights leaders Friday in calling on federal authorities to investigate the death of a teen at Bowling Brook Preparatory School.
“Children are the most precious gifts we receive, and for that reason, they deserve special protection,” said Dennis Courtland Hayes, interim president and CEO of the NAACP.
“By not protecting them, even mistakenly, we send the terrible message that they are marked for destruction. Tragic incidents of this naturecannot continue to happen and are unacceptable.”
Isaiah Simmons III, a Baltimore 17-year-old, died Jan. 23, 2007, after police said counselors held him face-down at the Keymar school for nearly three hours and called 911 only after he lay unconscious for 41 minutes.
Simmons was sent to the school for juvenile offenders for armed robbery.
The judge, grand jury and prosecutors are white, along with the majority of the former counselors at the now-closed school. Simmons was black.
The state medical examiner ruled his death a homicide. But the Carroll state’s attorney said the evidence warranted only misdemeanor reckless-endangerment charges, and the family and civil rights leaders have demanded more serious charges.
Carroll County Circuit Court Judge Michael Galloway dismissed the misdemeanor charges against five counselors Tuesday, ruling reckless-endangerment does not cover inaction.
In addition to the NAACP’s investigation demands, Baltimore City Councilman Jack Young said he plans to introduce a resolution Monday expressing the council’s support for the NAACP and Simmons? family in calling for a federal investigation and charges.
“I’m just trying to assist the family in asking the FBI to take a look at this,” said Young, who represents the district where the family has lived.
“We just want to make sure that this case gets done fairly. We understand, according to the NAACP and what we read in the paper, that the family has some questions about the case being dismissed.”
