A fight between two boys resulted in the 2nd known death at Brookhaven Youth Ranch. The first known case happened around 1999 when a boy was restrained to death
Treatment center under investigation after Travis County teen dies
By Ciara O'Rourke - American-Statesman Staff, October 21, 2014
The Travis County Juvenile Probation Department will be reviewing whether to send any more children to a residential treatment center north of Waco after a 15-year-old boy from Travis County was killed there this month.
Cristian Cuellar-Gonzales, 15, died Oct. 12 after a fight with a 16-year-old at Brookhaven Youth Ranch, said Sheriff Parnell McNamara of McLennan County, which is investigating the death.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is also investigating the incident, a spokesman for the state agency said.
Travis County officials are awaiting the findings from that investigation, said Chris Hubner, general counsel and a spokesman for the Juvenile Probation Department.
Cuellar-Gonzales had been at Brookhaven since July, after a juvenile court judge placed him there, Hubner said. Because Cuellar-Gonzales is a juvenile, Hubner said he couldn’t discuss why he was at Brookhaven.
+Treatment center under investigation after Travis County teen dies photo
Other children from Travis County have been placed at Brookhaven in the past but Cuellar-Gonzales was the only one there when he died, Hubner said.
A woman from Brookhaven’s administrative offices who refused to be identified Monday declined to answer questions about the incident.
The cause and manner of Cuellar-Gonzales’ death are pending, said Walter Peterson, a justice of the peace in Waco.
The other teen, who has not been identified because of his age, was charged with murder. McNamara said the teen fled after the fight but authorities found him hiding in a hay barn. The altercation started inside a building at Brookhaven after an argument escalated, McNamara said. It spilled outside to a yard and then to a parking lot, he said.
McNamara said Brookhaven staff members tried to stop the fight, and at one point an employee was attempting to subdue the 16-year-old when he broke away and kicked Cuellar-Gonzales. The sheriff said that blow appears to have resulted in Cuellar-Gonzales’ death. No weapons were found.
Family and Protective Services is working closely with law enforcement, according to Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the agency, but he would not comment further on the case.
Brookhaven is licensed and monitored by the state agency’s child-care licensing division. As of Tuesday, the center was in good standing with Family and Protective Services, which means it isn’t under probation or at risk of losing its license.
Brookhaven serves up to 71 children ages 13 to 17 who are referred from Family and Protective Services and county juvenile probation departments, according to the center’s website.
A mission statement online says the center, located near West, seeks to “provide a therapeutic sanctuary where children feel safe, parents feel reassured and referral sources feel appreciated and included in the effort to provide a compassionate healing environment.”
Family and Protective Services has inspected Brookhaven 78 times in the last two years, according to information available on the agency’s website. Among 30 deficiencies identified during that period, 17 had a “high” risk level, according to the agency. Ten deficiencies had a “medium-high” risk level and three had a “medium” risk level.
The most recent high-risk deficiency was identified in August, after a caregiver was overheard asking a child at the center for help while restraining another child, according to Family and Protective Services. The second-most-recent was identified in May, after a caregiver “forcefully shoved a child into a wall and the child complained of pain to the torso and head.”
Brookhaven reported both incidents to Family and Protective Services, according to the agency’s website. No violations were found during six inspections since Cuellar-Gonzales’ death.
Lauren Rose, a juvenile justice policy associate for Texans Care for Children, which focuses on state policy that affects children, said her nonprofit group is concerned about the safety of the teens at Brookhaven, a facility that she said “has a documented history of staff not being present around youth” and “staff assaulting youth.”
“We’re heartbroken that such a young man lost his life,” she said.
Here is a link about the first case resulting in death of a boy:
DEATHS OF CHILDREN IN JUVENILE JUSTICE CARE
