A black teen is seen losing consciousness in a viral video while being choked by staff members of a juvenile delinquency centre. The viral video sparked outrage in the United as protests against racism continue to spread across the United States.
The teen, Cornelius Fredericks, 16, died May 1, two days after staff at Lakeside Academy pinned him to the ground. Such action is considered a residential treatment for young adults in Kalamazoo, Michigan, after throwing a sandwich at another boy in the cafeteria.
In the video, captured by surveillance cameras, Frederick threw the sandwich and then, several men threw him to the ground, they then used their weight to subdue him.
Frederick appeared unconscious after 10 minutes. CPR was attempted by the staff members before they called for medical help.
His death brought back the memory of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25 during an arrest that was filmed and spread on social media.
Floyd’s death resulted in massive wave of anger and protests against systemic racism and police brutality going on in the United State.
Lawyer to Frederick’s family, Geffrey Fieger, while making the video public on Tuesday posited that the “horrific video” of Frederick’s death reveals a “culture if fear and abuse” at Lakeside Academy, where “suffocation is a regular practice… as a form of discipline”.
According to the family lawyer, he “was executed on April 29 for the crime of throwing a sandwich”. The seven staff members who pinned him on the ground “deprive him of oxygen and his brain suffered irreversible damage”.
Two of the instructors and one nurse were charged with child abuse and involuntary manslaughter.
The lawyer filed the civil lawsuits against the staff members involved and the private company that manages the Lakeside facility, Sequel Youth and family Services, in June. The facility has a contract with the state of Michigan.
He wrote, “Cornelius’s scream of ‘I can’t breathe’ was not enough to get the staff members to stop the excessive restraint.”
“The excessive use of restraints and the lack of concern for Cornelius’s life draw an eerily similar comparison to that of George Floyd’s death,” he added in the document.
On Tuesday, Fieger added that the operating company had proposed out-of-court settlement of less than $1 million as compensation to Frederick’s family.
The Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer in June denounce Frederick’s death, describing it as ”senseless” and “intolerable”, announced that she was stopping all contracts with the Sequel Youth and Family Services in the state.
