The family of a Baltimore teen who died while being restrained at a Carroll County reform school in 2007 has reached a $1.2 million settlement with the private school and the state Department of Juvenile Services.
News of the settlement was first posted in mid-December on the Web site for Steven D. Silverman, the attorney representing the family of 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons III, where it was referred to as “high profile” but did not name the plaintiffs. On Wednesday, the Daily Record quoted state officials who confirmed that the posting referred to the settlement with Bowling Brook Preparatory School.
The state will pay the family $7,500 to cover attorney fees, attorney and deputy counsel to Juvenile Services Shelly E. Mintz confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. The balance of the settlement will be paid by Bowling Brook, through its insurance company, she said.
“The state had no interest in prolonging the family’s grief and putting this thing through trial. It seemed a reasonable thing to do and the right thing to do for the family,” she said. “It was time for everyone to move on.”
On his Web site, Silverman said the settlement, the terms of which the family requested be kept private, was the highest allowable under the law.
The family first filed suit in federal court in May 2008, but dismissed it and filed a $95 million action in Baltimore City Circuit Court that December. Final settlement papers were signed last week, Mintz said.
The family alleged that Simmons was held face down on the ground while counselors sat on him for approximately three hours. The weight of the counselors asphyxiated Simmons, who eventually stopped breathing and lost consciousness.
In August, Maryland’s second-highest court upheld the dismissal of criminal charges against five counselors at Bowling Brook, a school for troubled juveniles in Keymar. The counselors were accused of waiting 41 minutes to call 911 after Simmons was restrained by staff and became unresponsive.
Bowling Brook was shut down and reopened last year under new private management and a different name, Silver Oak Academy.
