Guards delayed dying teen's CPR

Records show guards waited 20 minutes to begin CPR on a boy discovered unconscious in his juvenile justice center dorm room.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

Just after 4 a.m. on Oct. 13, youth-camp guard Josephus Johnson heard a ''gurgling'' sound coming from a dorm room.

He found 17-year-old Willie Durden cold, limp and without a pulse.

Twenty minutes and two exams later, an officer at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Correctional Center finally started CPR.

Why the wait?

''Some of these kids will play pranks,'' Johnson told an investigator with the state Department of Juvenile Justice, according to records provided to The Miami Herald this week. The inspector ``asked Johnson how someone could get his or her heart to stop beating to accomplish such a prank.''

Durden, a Jacksonville teen described as a ''model inmate'' who dreamed of being a youth counselor himself, was pronounced dead on arrival at Citrus Memorial Hospital at 5:10 a.m. He was to receive a football scholarship to a Christian school in Jacksonville following his release.

He became the sixth Florida child to die in DJJ custody since 2000. Two other children have died since then, including Martin Lee Anderson, who died Jan. 6 at a Bay County boot camp.

Durden is among several youths who died after guards or nurses dismissed their condition as the false cries of a faker or malingerer -- and the cases raise serious questions about the quality of care children in state custody receive.

SAFETY AT STAKE

''This is another tragic example of the state's inability to guarantee the health and safety of children in its care,'' said Roy Miller, who heads the Children's Campaign, a Tallahassee-based advocacy group. ``Parents and judges and law enforcement people need to ask the tough question: Are children in state custody safe?

''These are not isolated incidents. They are recurring, and it's shameful,'' Miller added.

Asked Nancy Hamilton, who oversees a St. Petersburg drug treatment program and is president of the state Juvenile Justice Association: ``How do you hire for common sense? This is a key issue . . . Would you wait 20 minutes if this were your child? Or would you be on your phone?''

The head of Cypress Creek, Joseph Hasselbach, declined to discuss the case, citing a DJJ requirement that agencies that contract with the state government not speak to reporters.

Durden was sent to the youth prison after he violated probation on an armed robbery conviction.

NEW PURPOSE

A week before his death, Durden had written a report on The Purpose-Driven Life, a book he read for his treatment team. ''I have learned that God has put everyone on Earth for a purpose. And that no one's a mistake,'' he wrote.

''I think my purpose in my life is dealing with children,'' Durden added. ``I plan on working at the YMCA so I can deal with the kids and let them know where I've been and how I turned my life around by fulfilling my purpose on Earth.''

Another youth, who was detained in the room next to Durden's, told investigators that Durden was trying to make the best of his stay at Cypress Creek, and was encouraging other detainees to turn their lives around.

''He helped himself out,'' the youth said. ``He was looking for Jesus . . . He got himself saved and he was trying to get me to go there with him.''

The day before Durden died, the teen stayed inside and played dominoes when other detainees went out to play sports. That night, a friend told investigators, Durden skipped dinner, saying he didn't like what was on the menu. He later ate potato chips and juice. When his friend in an adjacent cell went to sleep that night, Durden said he was writing a letter, and would see the youth the next morning.

Johnson told investigators Durden was asleep on his mat on the floor for a long time when the guard conducted 10-minute room checks, and he decided to rouse the youth about 4:30 shortly after he heard a noise apparently coming from Durden's room. When Durden failed to move, Johnson summoned his boss, John Esteves.

''Once Mr. Esteves arrived, I made him aware I was concerned since youth had no movement and very little, if any, pulse,'' Johnson wrote in a log book later. ``I observed Mr. Esteves attempt to check for pulse and heartbeat.''

CONTINUED DELAYS

Esteves told investigators he, too, never performed CPR on the youth, calling another guard to the dorm room instead to check for a pulse.

''The whole time I'm looking down at this kid to see if he's breathing or anything,'' Esteves told a DJJ investigator. ``I don't see his stomach going up and down. I put my finger by his nose and I'm feeling no air. Meanwhile, I'm still yelling at the kid to wake up.''

It was not until about 4:30 that officers in the master control room called 911 to summon an ambulance, records show. The reports say officers did not begin CPR until after that, when an emergency dispatcher told them to begin resuscitation.

In his notes to the facility log book, Johnson wrote that ``911 was notified nothing was happening. We were given word to start CPR.''

An investigative report said ``Johnson said he wished he had immediately started CPR on [Durden] when he initially went to his room. Johnson said he was not sure if [the youth] was playing games at first.''

Johnson left Cypress Creek in December, and Esteves, his boss, was fired in April.

Durden's friend, in the adjacent cell, criticized the guards. The boy, investigators wrote, ``felt staff should have called 911 as soon as they realized something was wrong.''