Camp death leads to murder charges
Boy died after being restrained by counselors
By CRAIG SCHNEIDER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/19/05
Six camp counselors were charged with murder Monday in the death of a Douglas County boy restrained for over an hour at a wilderness camp for troubled youngsters.
A White County grand jury deliberated for about an hour before returning the charges of felony murder, child cruelty and involuntary manslaughter. Travis Parker, 13, died April 21, the day after he was held face down by counselors at the state-run Appalachian Wilderness Camp in Cleveland, in the North Georgia mountains.
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The boy, who had asthma, was denied his inhaler during the restraint. A medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.
"This is all based on the criminal negligence or reckless conduct of these individuals," said White County District Attorney Stan Gunter. "It was due to the restraint, and how they applied it, that has led to these charges."
An attorney for counselor Mathew Desing said the counselors restrained the boy as they had been taught.
"They were doing what they were trained to do," said attorney Abbi Guest. "This is clearly not a case of counselors gone awry."
Desing "cared very much for the children he worked with, and he cared very much for the job of helping those children," she said.
Gwen Skinner, a top official of the Georgia Department of Human Resources, which oversees the Appalachian Wilderness Camp, said the counselors were not following agency rules or procedures.
"We do not train staff to do face-down restraints," she said.
Counselors restrained the boy April 20 after he angrily confronted one of them for denying him food as punishment, according to accounts from counselors and boys who witnessed the incident.
Travis was restrained by at least three counselors at a time, witnesses said in reports obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He eventually stopped breathing.
The state fired five camp employees after the incident, and another resigned. The six counselors indicted Monday were: Desing, Ryan Chapman, Paul Binford, Torbin Vining, Johnny Harris and Phillip Elliott.
Vining's lawyer, Dan Summer of Gainesville, said his client will surrender to White County authorities this afternoon. Summer said he would not comment on the indictment until he reviewed the case's investigative file. None of the other counselors could be reached for comment.
Felony murder charges, which can bring sentences of life in prison, are brought in cases where a death occurred during the commission of a felony. Authorities say the felony in this case was cruelty to children.
"I think there was no intent to kill, but because of their recklessness, he died," Gunter said.
Travis had been sent to the camp in February. He was on probation after hitting his grandmother, who raised him, and threatening her with a knife. Still, a family attorney said the boy and his grandmother had a loving relationship. Attorney Thomas Cuffie said that when Golden Griffin saw her grandson on life support in the hospital, she suspected he had taken a bad beating.
"He had considerable swelling, knots and lacerations about his body," Cuffie said. "They imposed a form of punishment that resulted in his death."
Griffin, who adopted Travis when he was 18 months old, remains shocked that the people she trusted to counsel and care for her grandson treated him so harshly, Cuffie said. She has called on the Department of Human Resources to tighten its policies on the treatment of youngsters.
The department has retrained staff on the use of restraints since the incident and is reviewing its policies on when restraint may be used, officials said.
"So there's no confusion about when it can be used, and how it's to be used," Skinner said. "Making sure that it's crystal clear."
? Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.
