Author Topic: Freedom Village survivor commits suicide in County Jail  (Read 3295 times)

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Freedom Village survivor commits suicide in County Jail
« on: July 24, 2014, 07:32:33 AM »
The PTSD can often hit people too hard for them to recover:

Family sues over teen's suicide at Yates County jail (Finger Lakes Times)
By MIKE HIBBARD, Dec 15, 2011
PENN YAN — The parents of a teenager who killed himself at the Yates County Jail last year are suing the county, its sheriff and several correction officers who were on duty when the teen hung himself.

The parents of Aaron Shehu of Groton, Tompkins County, filed the lawsuit through Ithaca-area attorney Walter Wiggins earlier this month in Tompkins County. At this point, no specific monetary damages are being sought.

Shehu, 17, was found unresponsive by correction officers just after midnight on Nov. 27, 2010. He hung himself by tying one end of his bedsheet to the bars of his jail cell and the other end around his neck.

It is believed that Shehu committed suicide between 11:56 p.m. and midnight. Jail guards who found him tried to administer CPR, and Shehu was later taken to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hospital in Penn Yan, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Shehu’s parents, Xhem and Nancy Shehu, are claiming their son threatened suicide on a number of occasions before he hung himself and should have been committed to a medical facility or been under 24-hour supervision at the jail.

They are suing the county, Sheriff Ron Spike, and correction officers Deborah Carlson, Glen Hastings, Marcus Mallate and Dan Scott. Also named in the lawsuit are the jail administrator, Clay Rugar, and a nurse from the county mental health department who was treating Shehu during his time in jail.

Wiggins said the name of the nurse is not known, and she is referred to in court papers as Jane Doe.

Also named in the suit are Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca and Dr. Auguste Duplan, an Ithaca-area child psychologist. Shehu was treated at the hospital for more than a week in May 2010, just before he was arrested in Yates County.

According to court papers, three days after Shehu got out of the hospital he ran away from home, stole and disabled three vehicles and was arrested by state police in Yates County. He was charged with grand larceny and taken to the county jail on $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond.

Shehu was in the county jail from the time of his arrest until he killed himself.

In the court papers, Shehu’s parents allege that jail officials should have known their son was suicidal and that he attempted to commit suicide while he was at Freedom Village, a residential facility in Lakemont that provides care for disturbed and emotionally challenged minors.

The Shehus claim they pleaded with the presiding judge in their son’s case, Milo Town Justice John Symonds, as well as the county public defender’s office — which was representing Aaron — to protect his interests as an indigent youth.

They also claim they asked the county district attorney’s office to admit their son to a secure psychiatric unit for medical treatment of mental issues.

The Shehus are Aaron’s adoptive parents. According to court papers, they adopted him when he was 3 months old after he was taken away from his biological parents over abuse issues.

He was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome, which the Shehus said caused traumatic brain injury and led to Aaron’s mental and physical problems, including seizures.

On Nov. 25 of last year, which was Thanksgiving day, the Shehus said Aaron called them to say he was hallucinating and hearing voices, as he had in the past.

The Shehus claim Aaron reported this to the nurse who was treating him at the jail and told her he was having thoughts of suicide, but she told him they could discuss his concerns after the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Shehus also claim on the evening of Nov. 26, correction officers should have moved Aaron to a medical facility after he refused to take his anti-depressant medication.

In court papers, the Shehus said the incident that touched off Aaron’s hospitalization and subsequent arrest happened May 4, 2010, when he stole medication from his mother. When confronted about the theft, Aaron — who was 16 at the time — ran away from home and was found seven miles away in neighboring Cayuga County.

He was turned over to Tompkins County deputies, who said Aaron threatened to run away again and kill himself when they took him back home. His parents asked that he be taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

The Shehus claim they unsuccessfully pleaded with Duplan and hospital officials to have Aaron remain in the hospital or another medical facility because he threatened to harm himself or his mother, but he was discharged May 14.

In the court papers, the Shehus also claim Aaron tried to take his life by ingesting six tubes of poster putty — a nontoxic material used for mounting posters — at the Yates County Jail. He was treated at the Penn Yan hospital and returned to the jail.

In an e-mail to the Finger Lakes Times, Spike said correction officers deployed emergency life-saving measures until the arrival of Penn Yan Volunteer Ambulance Corps staff.

Spike said an autopsy was ordered by a county coroner and the state Commission of Corrections, and state officials thoroughly investigated the matter independent of a sheriff’s office investigation. The state ruled there was no evidence of foul play.

Spike added that since this is pending litigation, neither he or the county is commenting at this time. They are being represented by attorney Gerard O’Connor from Buffalo.

At the time of his death, Shehu was a student at Dryden High School.

Wiggins declined to comment on the case beyond what is in the court papers.

Nancy Shehu said her son should have been watched more closely after making numerous threats to kill himself.

“He was very clear on his intentions. All the signs were there,” she said. “I don’t think there was any follow-through on the county’s part. Hopefully, by bringing this [lawsuit] about there will be some change and other parents won’t have to go through what we did.”