Mother Sues State Agency,
Juvenile Facility Over Death
[SOUTH PINELLAS
Edition]
CHRIS TISCH. St.
Petersburg Times. St.
Petersburg, Fla.: May
18, 2005. pg. 3.B
Abstract
(Document Summary)
Daniel
"Danny" Matthews died after
a May 31, 2003, fight at the
facility, which is located
near the 49th Street
criminal justice complex in
the Largo area. Prosecutors
decided not to charge the
boy who hit him, 16-year-old
Louis Lauro, because he and
Matthews were aggressive
toward each other.
Matthews' death, along with
another boy's death in a
Miami detention center,
helped spark legislative
committee hearings into
safety at Florida's juvenile
detention centers.
The report on Matthews'
death found that a trainee
detention worker opened two
cell doors by using
electronic controls. This
allowed Matthews and Lauro,
who had been verbally
sparring with each other all
day, to confront each other
and fight.
Full Text (408
words)
Copyright Times Publishing
Co. May 18, 2005
The
mother of a 17-year-old boy
who died after a fight with
another inmate at the
Pinellas Juvenile Detention
Center filed a lawsuit
Tuesday against the Florida
Department of Juvenile
Justice and the boy who hit
her son.
Daniel
"Danny" Matthews died after
a May 31, 2003, fight at the
facility, which is located
near the 49th Street
criminal justice complex in
the Largo area. Prosecutors
decided not to charge the
boy who hit him, 16-year-old
Louis Lauro, because he and
Matthews were aggressive
toward each other.
However,
DJJ officials admitted a
number of errors that led to
the fight.
The
agency failed to adequately
supervise youths, failed to
properly monitor one of the
department's own employees
and opened cell doors
incorrectly, according to a
report released in October
2003.
That same
month, DJJ began proceedings
to fire one senior detention
officer and suspend an
assistant superintendent for
five days in connection with
the fight.
Matthews'
death, along with another
boy's death in a Miami
detention center, helped
spark legislative committee
hearings into safety at
Florida's juvenile detention
centers.
The
report on Matthews' death
found that a trainee
detention worker opened two
cell doors by using
electronic controls. This
allowed Matthews and Lauro,
who had been verbally
sparring with each other all
day, to confront each other
and fight.
The
trainee, David Elswick, told
investigators he thought he
was opening doors for a
group of inmates who were
returning to their cells.
Department policy says two
detention workers should be
present when an occupied
cell is opened. But another
detention worker had stayed
behind in a classroom to
pick up board games when the
doors were opened.
Matthews
fell to the floor after
Lauro punched him. He later
died at the hospital from
blunt trauma to the head,
though the Pinellas- Pasco
medical examiner was unable
to say if the punch or the
fall killed him.
Elswick,
who also is named as a
defendant in the lawsuit,
should not have been working
at the Juvenile Detention
Center. He had failed to
pass his certification test,
missing a passing score by
one point. New workers have
up to 180 days to pass the
test, but Elswick had worked
241 days without passing it,
the report states.
He
resigned a month after the
fatal fight.
A DJJ
spokesman said Tuesday the
agency had not been served
with the lawsuit, which
seeks damages of more than
$15,000, and could not
comment.
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