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Camp Oakland sued in teen's death
January 21, 2001
Kevin Lynch
OXFORD -- The mother of a 15-year-old
Lansing boy claims her son died after employees of a boot-camp
program made him do push-ups and run sprints even though the boy had
an enlarged heart. According to a lawsuit filed last week in
Oakland County Circuit Court, employees at Camp Oakland were sent
files containing doctors' orders that Charles Collins Jr. was not to
physically exert himself because of the medical condition he'd had
since birth. Despite the warnings, the suit contends, Collins was
made to exercise on his first and only day there -- Jan. 13, 1998.
The day ended with Collins being
rushed by camp staff to the Clarkston Medical Clinic, according to
the lawsuit, then to St. Joseph Mercy in Pontiac. He was
hospitalized for two weeks, and died five months later of heart
failure.
Officials at the nonprofit family
services agency now known as Crossroads for Youth denied wrongdoing,
but said they could not discuss the particulars of Collins case.
"He has several brothers and a mother
who were very devastated by this," said Lansing attorney Andrew
Wilkins, who represents the family. "She lost a son at 15 who would
have lived for many more years. He might not have lived to be 70
because of his medical condition. But he would have lived 10, 20
years, maybe even 30 or 40 more years, and she won't get any of that
time now."
Wilkins said that in 1998, Collins was
in the custody of the Michigan Family Independence Agency (FIA),
which placed him at Camp Oakland. He would say only that he became
involved with the state agency after "some family trouble," but
would not offer specifics.
But FIA officials and the director of
Crossroads for Youth say the story in Wilkins' complaint doesn't
agree with their records. FIA spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said
Collins was not a ward of the state at the time, suggesting that he
could have been referred to the camp by a judge.
And Crossroads for Youth Executive
Director Janet McPeek said Collins was not enrolled in any of the 11
programs offered at the agency, and that no one was rushed to the
hospital from the camp that day.
"If he wasn't enrolled here, he never would have been issued a bed,
he never would have changed his clothes, he never would have had any
reason to participate in any of the activities here," McPeek said.
"We don't even have exercise on their first day here."
McPeek said Crossroads usually has about 250 participants in its
programs, the goals of which range from criminal rehabilitation to
family bonding and building self-esteem. In 1998 Crossroads did have
a boot camp program, she said, but it is now called the Achievement
Center.
Copyright (c) The Detroit News. All
rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc.
by NewsBank, inc.
© Copyright 2005 The Detroit News. All
rights reserved.
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