The death of a Prince George's County student at a school for
emotionally disturbed boys in May has been ruled a homicide,
county police said yesterday.
Police said Carlton Eugene Thomas, 17, suffered cardiac
arrest on May 14 after a staff member cut off his oxygen with a
restraining hold. [Emphasis added.]
The completed police investigation has been sent to State's
Attorney Jack B. Johnson's office, where prosecutors will decide
whether to charge the staff member. The staffer has been on
routine administrative leave with pay from the Edgemeade-Raymond
A. Rogers Jr. School since the incident.
Police and school officials have declined to release the
staffer's name.
Prosecutors did not return phone calls to their offices
seeking comment yesterday.
According to police, the state medical examiner ruled that
Thomas died of cardiac arrest that was "due to asphyxia from
being restrained and an acute asthmatic attack occurring during
a struggle."
County police had been waiting for the autopsy report before
deciding whether to pursue the case as a homicide.
Officials at the Upper Marlboro school have denied that the
staff member's actions led to Thomas's death.
Initial reports by police and the director of the school for
Maryland students with special needs and emotional problems,
indicated that Thomas, of District Heights, was being restrained
by a counselor when he died.
Elin Jones, spokeswoman for the school, did not return phone
calls to the school seeking comment yesterday.
Thomas's mother, Sheila Bracey, said in an interview in
May that her son had been physically mistreated before he died.
She said the 150-pound, 5-foot-9 youth appeared to have "been
beaten up, and badly." [Emphasis added.]
Neither Bracey nor her attorney, Holly Parker, returned phone
calls seeking comment yesterday.
James A. Filipczak, director of the boys-only, nonprofit
school, said in May that the incident began as a dispute during
gym class and that Thomas was one of four students ordered by
faculty members to go into a nearby room.
He said the students were told to lie on their stomachs, a
method used routinely to control students at the 74-student
school. Thomas resisted, so a staff member stood behind him,
Filipczak said, and wrapped his arms around Thomas until "he
looked like he was settling down."
Several students jumped on the faculty member who was bending
over Thomas, and "they all ended up on top of Carlton,"
Filipczak said.
Other staff members pulled the students off Thomas and the
counselor, and one of them asked Thomas if he was all right,
Filipczak said. Thomas said yes, the director said.
But moments later, Filipczak said, staff members realized
Thomas was not breathing. Nurses administered cardiopulmonary
resuscitation for about 15 minutes before paramedics arrived.
Thomas was pronounced dead at Prince George's Hospital Center in
Cheverly shortly afterward.
Thomas first enrolled as an Edgemeade day student in
September 1999 with a diagnosis of attention-deficit
(hyperactivity) disorder, his mother said. He became a
residential student in November.
Her son had recently complained of physical abuse at the
school, and Bracey said she was planning to remove him.
Since his death, other parents have said that their children
were also physically abused at the school. The school has denied
the allegations.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
