The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/08/05
The counselors who restrained 13-year-old Travis Parker in a face-down "full basket" hold at a state wilderness camp insist they were doing what they were trained to do with an unruly kid. But all six have been charged with murder i n his death.
And though state child protection officials claim they neither permit nor condone such restraints, the state Department of Human Resources will be judged on the incident as well, both in the court of public opinion and at the trial of its employees.
"DHR will be on trial," said Normer Adams, executive director of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children. "The counselors say they were acting according to policy and how they were trained ... How can that not reflect on the system?"
Child welfare advocates say the state agency must offer an accounting of what policies, training and oversight occurred at the camp for troubled boys.
On April 20 at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp, counselors held Travis, who had asthma, on the ground for about an hour and a half, much of the time face down, and denied the boy's request for his inhaler, according to documents from the Human Resources Department.
Travis was restrained after he angrily confronted one of his counselors after being denied food as a punishment, according to written accounts from counselors and campers who witnessed the incident.
The restraint, which involved at least three counselors at a time, ended when the boy stopped breathing and went limp, the reports said. He was hospitalized and died the next day. An autopsy said his death resulted from the restraint.
Seeming conflict
The state's own investigation into Travis' death showed the face-down hold from which he died has been used for years at the camp.
But DHR child protection officials say the face-down restraint the men used on the Douglas County boy is not permitted and not in the camp's training manuals.
In May, Gwen Skinner, a DHR director, said "face-down restraints are not allowed, period."
In July, she said, "We do not train staff to do face-down restraints."
Last week, she said she wanted to clarify her remarks.
"I'm willing to acknowledge that our report says it was taking place," she said. "I believe our own report."
Skinner added, "But this is an issue that is being investigated by multiple agencies ... It's going to be a court matter and I want to be very careful."
She explained DHR policy as stating that the camp staff must abide by two official training manuals which recommend different restraints than the one used on Travis.
But the managers of the Appalachian Wilderness Camp say that these manuals were never formally adopted as the restraint protocols at the camp. DHR officials said that rules and regulations for the camp did not specifically prohibit a prone "full basket" restraint.
Since Travis' death, the DHR board has proposed adding specific language banning prone holds to the rules governing camp operation.
"Obviously there was a breakdown in between the policy and the practice," said Adams, the child welfare advocate.
That breakdown is what worries the families of the camp counselors — six young men who their lawyers say were dedicated to helping troubled kids.
Nancy Binford, the mother of counselor Paul Binford, said she believes DHR is using her son and the other counselors as scapegoats.
"These employees are just disposable to them," she said. "Easy to hang out to dry."
The Binfords say the case has turned their lives upside down. Paul's career with children has been thrown into limbo.
"This is horrible," said Michael Binford, an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. "Just when I think it couldn't get any worse, it does."
Paul's mother added, "We are living in the hell of an innocent accused."
Lawyers for the counselors say the young men were trained in using the face-down restraint. During the restraint they checked Travis' pulse and breathing often during the hour and a half he was held down, the attorneys said.
Training pivotal
The question of training, and what was accepted procedure at this camp, almost certainly will become an issue at the murder trial next spring.
"If they were doing what they were trained to do, then they are not responsible in a criminal sense for what happened to Travis," said lawyer Abbi Guest, who is representing Mathew Desing, another of the counselors charged in the case.
A trial may also help reconcile some conflicting portraits of life at the Appalachian Wilderness Camp.
Phyllis Tate said her 16-year-old son, Raphael, who has been at the camp since January, is better at managing his anger. At his worst, the teen's rage had him destroying the mailbox and a screen door with a machete.
"In spite of this sad accident, I cannot think of a better place for my son to be," said the DeKalb County mom. "The young men who work with our children are caring, dedicated and idealistic. They are there to do something good in this crazy world. They are strict but loving, and people must realize that if a child is totally out of control, they must be restrained to protect not only those around them, but they often must be prevented from injuring themselves."
But former counselor Bill Hewes said he quit working at Appalachian Wilderness Camp in 2000 after six months on the job because he thought the restraints used on the children were too harsh.
Hewes said restraints were used as punishment, and that injuries sometimes occurred, including cuts, scrapes and, on one occasion, a fractured arm.
He quit, he said, after he witnessed a boy in a face-down restraint vomit several times. "I thought the kid was going to die," he said.
For now, the accreditation of the state-run wilderness camp is under review, the counselors are free on bond, and DHR will be holding a public hearing later this month on revising the camp rules on restraints.
