NAACP leaders are distressed by last month's dismissal of a verdict rendered by Circuit Court Judge Michael M. Galloway in the death of Isaiah Simmons, III at the hands of adults who sought to discipline him at an alternative juvenile justice facility in Carroll County, Md. The civil rights organization is urging the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal officials to conduct a thorough investigation and intervention.
Simmons, 17, lost consciousness and died Jan. 23, 2007 after struggling with five adult staff of the Bowling Brook Prepatory School, a privately run residential program under contract with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. Witnesses said the staffers sat on Simmons' limbs, chest and head. He was subsequently restrained for three hours. Staffers did not call emergency medical services for more than 40 minutes once Simmons was determined unresponsive. The state medical examiner's ruled his death a homicide.
"Children are the most precious gifts we receive, and for that reason, they deserve special protection," said NAACP Interim President & CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes. "By not protecting them, even mistakenly, we send the terrible message that they are marked for destruction. Tragic incidents of this nature cannot continue to happen and are unacceptable."
After a grand jury decided against indicting the staffers for manslaughter and other offenses, they were subsequently charged with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor. On Tuesday Judge Galloway dropped all charges against Jason W. Robinson, Brian G. Kanavy, Shadi Sabbagh, Mark R. Sainato and Dennis Harding, writing in his decision that "the indictment fails to properly allege a crime upon which the defendants maybe convicted" and that the indictment was "constitutionally flawed." .
Judge Galloway further wrote, that the state's reckless endangerment law has been "deliberately construed to punish affirmative actions rather than passive inactions."
"The staffers had a moral and legal duty to ensure the safety and well-being of all children at Bowling Brook," said NAACP Interim General Counsel Angela Ciccolo. "No one's child should be treated this way."
The increase in reports of violence and overly aggressive prosecution against African American youth by law enforcement officials symbolized by the Simmons case, the boot camp beating death of Martin Lee Anderson, the assault of Shelwanda Riley by a police officer and countless other recent dehumanizing attacks led the NAACP to declare a
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