Youth facility officials don't know cause of teen's death
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By ANA X. CERON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Officials are awaiting autopsy results to determine what caused the death of a teen at a juvenile facility last week.
Sixteen-year-old Kevin Christie was playing basketball with a group of boys at the Eckerd Youth Development Center in Okeechobee and collapsed as he was helping a boy who fell, said Robert Patterson, operations director for the facility.Christie bent over to help the boy up, then fell on his back, Patterson said Tuesday. Once on the ground he lifted himself up a little, as if he were gasping for air, Patterson said.
Staff at the center rushed to administer CPR and an ambulance transported him to Raulerson Hospital, where he died between 6:30 and 7 p.m. Friday, Patterson said.
An autopsy was done Saturday, and officials are waiting on its findings to learn what caused the teen's death, Patterson said.
Christie was admitted to the Eckerd Youth Development Center about 2 p.m. on Nov. 6. He had been transferred after serving a year at Orient Road Jail in Tampa, Patterson said.
Christie was originally from Jamaica but had been living in Riverview with a family friend, Patterson said.
Patterson said grief counselors were available to talk with the boys and the staff at the center about what had happened.
"It was really a total shock for the boys and the staff for this to happen," he said.
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