How Could You? Hall of Shame-Leakes & Watts RTC-Child Death UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Yonkers, New York, 16-year-old Corey Foster died at the Leakes & Watts Residential Treatment Center after being restrained. He was playing basketball and the staff asked the boys to clear the court so THEY could play. Corey was shooting a ball that ricocheted off the rim and the ball hit an employee in the head. Then, possibly up to eight employees restrained him on the floor. Witnesses say that Corey stated that he couldn’t breathe and then foam came from his mouth. At that point, they discovered that he was dead.

Eight employees have been suspended and Yonkers police are investigating.

“The 16-year-old student, who lives at the facility, was playing basketball in the school gym when he became agitated, according to police.

The teen was then restrained by school staff and while restrained, he passed out and went into cardiac arrest, cops said.

The school has said the move is standard policy following any accident.

Foster’s exact cause of death has not been determined.

Yonkers police are still investigating.”
Several Employees At Yonkers School Placed On Leave After Teen’s Death
[CBS New York 4/24/12]

“Officials at Leake & Watts residential treatment center said today that witnesses’ accounts of a 16-year-old resident’s death are “not based in truth,” disputing claims that staff members piled onto the boy in a violent confrontation on a basketball court.

“That is not what we believe happened,” Meredith Barber, the center’s director of institutional advancement, told The Journal News/LoHud.com when asked about Wednesday’s death of Corey Foster. “To our understanding, none of that happened.”

One witness, William Green, told the paper Thursday that Foster shouted, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe!” as eight staff members piled onto him.”

He said Foster was being ordered to leave the gym with other students when he took a shot that ricocheted off the basket into the head of one employee. Another worker then pushed Foster against a wall, and Foster “went for his leg,” said Green, 18. That’s when the staffers converged and took Foster down, he said.

After Foster said he couldn’t breathe, one staffer replied, “If you can’t breathe, you wouldn’t be talking.” That same person then punched Foster in the head, Green said, adding, “I saw the fist connect.” Green, as he was being forced out, said he saw foam coming out of Foster’s mouth.

The account mirrors the statements of two other witnesses, who said several boys were shooting hoops when the staff ordered them to clear the court so they could play. Staff piled onto Foster after he became angry, said witnesses Malik Legree and Antonio Reeder, 17.

“When they got off of him, he was on the ground and wasn’t responsive,” said Reeder, a resident.
Meanwhile, two state agencies have launched an investigation into Wednesday’s death of Corey Foster, who went into cardiac arrest while being restrained by staff. The Office of Children and Family Services is probing the death of Corey Foster, with assistance from the state Department of Education, which have oversight roles at the facility, a spokesperson for the education department told the paper.”

Corey Foster’s death at Leake & Watts: Staff piled on upset teen, witnesses say; state launches probe
[Lo Hud 4/20/12 by Will David, Shawn Cohen and Rebecca Baker]

“The parents of a 16-year-old student who died at a Yonkers school for troubled teenagers are demanding answers and justice for their son.

“I’m torn between disbelief, disgust, anger,” Andre Foster said at a news conference in Queens on Monday. “I’m just looking for some kind of justice.”

Corey Foster died on April 18 at the Leake & Watts facility shortly after going into cardiac arrest while being restrained by several staff members, police said. Foster had apparently become agitated while playing basketball.

We’re not talking about one staff member being involved, we’re talking about multiple, grown, adult bullies piling on Corey Foster,” said attorney Jacob Oresky, who alleged a pattern of abuse at the school. “I think it’s time to air their dirty laundry and clean it up.”

The victim’s mother, Sheila Foster, is calling on the Westchester County district attorney to release her son’s autopsy results and videotape of the incident supposedly captured by security cameras. She said witnesses heard her son say, “I can’t breathe.”

“Someone told him, ‘if you can talk, you can breathe,’” Sheila Foster told CBS 2′s John Slattery. “They ignored his cries for breath. He’s killed and no one claims to know the complete story. Corey was punched in the face, restrained and wrestled down by six to eight staff members.”

The school educates students with severe emotional, mental and academic disabilities and many students live on campus.

In a statement, the school said it continues to cooperate fully with the authorities will not have any further comments until the investigations have concluded.”

“Sheila Foster said she made an organ donation on behalf of her son. The skin from his back was given to the New York Firefighter’s skin bank, Slattery reported.”

Parents Demand Answers After 16-Year-Old Son Dies At Yonkers School
[CBS New York 4/30/12]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

The 16-year-old died April 18 while being restrained at Leake & Watts residential treatment center in Yonkers.

“I’m just picturing him laying there,” Foster’s mother, Sheila, told The Journal News. “It’s painful. That’s my blood. They took so much away from me.”

She learned of the report findings at the Bronx office of family attorney Jacob Oresky. She said she is “disappointed with the report” and feels “the system failed her.”

The family learned that the autopsy report was available Tuesday after requesting it weeks ago. The coroner’s office wouldn’t release the report until it first received approval from the District Attorney’s Office and then got a $26 fee from the family.

Officials at the Medical Examiner’s Office have said the cause and manner of Corey Foster’s death were determined Thursday.

Oresky sent an investigator to Valhalla to pick up the report by acting Westchester County Chief Medical Examiner Kunjlata Ashar. He said the findings confirm that the actions of staffers caused Foster’s death.

He said the family wants the employees involved to be prosecuted on charges of criminally negligent homicide.

“It’s basically saying while these staffers either were attacking him or the degree of force they used on him caused his death or he died from it,” Oresky said.

He said he plans to file papers today in state Supreme Court in Queens seeking the release of a surveillance video that he thinks will help him identify staffers involved in the incident.

Tracy Everson, deputy director of communications for the county District Attorney’s Office, said the investigation has not been completed.

Foster died after being restrained during a confrontation with employees on the facility’s basketball court. Staff restrained him, and he went into cardiac arrest. Police responded about 8 p.m. that day and Foster was rushed to St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers, where he was pronounced dead at 9:22 p.m.

Sheila Foster, meanwhile, said she donated the skin from her son’s back.

It’s being used by a skin bank intended for firefighters.”

Corey Foster death ruled accident at Leake & Watts center