NC - 12-year-old dies at Trails Carolina wilderness therapy camp, Lake Toxaway, February 2024

[ChatteringBirds]

Very saddening. I can't reconcile the decision not to file criminal charges with the following

Thus, the counsellors pretty much force/coerced him into the unsafe/killer bivy.

I agree, Skiron.
Although they did not intend him to die, it was clearly abusive and therefore a foreseeable risk and a negligent homicide, in my opinion. I especially believe the owners, who would have known how children were being restrained at their business, should not get to walk away from this.

 

[Lusitana]

The parents can sue them.

 

[cujenn81]

The parents can sue them.

They could, but I have a feeling they won’t. I just hope this young man is not forgotten.

 

[Lusitana]

They could, but I have a feeling they won’t. I just hope this young man is not forgotten.

Yeah, I have that same feeling.

 

[tlcya]

I am so angry that no criminal charges will be filed against the Trails organization. I understand them maybe not deciding to go after the employees who were simply following their training (or lack thereof) but why no charges for the persons who profit off the abuse of these children is beyond me.

They created the atmosphere, they failed to properly train and supervise, they profited off desperate parents and children those parents thought needed "fixing". They will simply move to another area (probably already have) and continue to profit and abuse because nothing prevents them. Zero consequences and a 12 year old child is dead.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

MOO:

Well said, @tlcya.

What does it tell society when -- they forced a child into a completely enclosed sleeping bag against his will and locked him inside, and he literally suffocated and no one noticed for hours, but that "did not involve criminal intent or recklessness sufficient to warrant criminal charges for involuntary manslaughter under the law?"

(Bolded by me)

It doesn't even meet the definition of involuntary manslaughter? So it's an acceptable outcome under the law?

Imagine being the one to tell his family that -- well they did all that to your child, and he died, but we find it legal. Sorry for your loss.

No criminal charges to be filed in suffocation death of 12-year-old boy at North Carolina wilderness camp

No criminal charges to be filed in suffocation death of 12-year-old boy at North Carolina wilderness camp

www.yahoo.com

 

[Lilibet]

Imagine being the one to tell his family that -- well they did all that to your child, and he died, but we find it legal. Sorry for your loss.

In a sense, it all being “legal” would relieve any guilt the family might feel. They can believe it was just a terrible accident. And the fact that there will be no trial also means they don’t have to testify, which must be a relief.

I expect that, like other parents who send their kids to these places, they were overwhelmed by his behavior and felt they had run out of options. Their son might have ended up being one of the “success stories.” BUT…

No matter what their son had done, I just can’t understand how they could allow him to be basically kidnapped by two strange men and taken to Trails. That scenario should have set off alarm bells about the whole idea of Trails and caused them to do more research.

I don’t think they will file suit because that would require that their names become widely known. They’ve tried to suppress their son’s name (without success), so I can’t imagine they would open themselves up to infamy.

Poor kid. :-(

JMO

 

[Lilibet]

Imagine being the one to tell his family that -- well they did all that to your child, and he died, but we find it legal. Sorry for your loss.

In a sense, it all being “legal” would relieve any guilt the family might feel. They can believe it was just a terrible accident. And the fact that there will be no trial also means they don’t have to testify, which must be a relief.

I expect that, like other parents who send their kids to these places, they were overwhelmed by his behavior and felt they had run out of options. Their son might have ended up being one of the “success stories.” BUT…

No matter what their son had done, I just can’t understand how they could allow him to be basically kidnapped by two strange men and taken to Trails. That scenario should have set off alarm bells about the whole idea of Trails and caused them to do more research.

I don’t think they will file suit because that would require that their names become widely known. They’ve tried to suppress their son’s name (without success), so I can’t imagine they would open themselves up to infamy.

Poor kid. :-(

JMO

 

[Lilibet]

Sorry about the duplicate posts. The edit function isn’t letting me delete.

 

[RickshawFan]

In a sense, it all being “legal” would relieve any guilt the family might feel. They can believe it was just a terrible accident. And the fact that there will be no trial also means they don’t have to testify, which must be a relief.

I expect that, like other parents who send their kids to these places, they were overwhelmed by his behavior and felt they had run out of options. Their son might have ended up being one of the “success stories.” BUT…

No matter what their son had done, I just can’t understand how they could allow him to be basically kidnapped by two strange men and taken to Trails. That scenario should have set off alarm bells about the whole idea of Trails and caused them to do more research.

I don’t think they will file suit because that would require that their names become widely known. They’ve tried to suppress their son’s name (without success), so I can’t imagine they would open themselves up to infamy.

Poor kid. :-(

JMO

It's unclear their son did anything, except not meet the high expectations in the family, especially in his school setting. Poor child was probably very unhappy and misunderstood. IMO Even if you're brilliant, being the "best you you can be" doesn't have to mean you're getting straight A's at an academically competitive school. Everyone's brains work different ways, and have different ways of learning. Example: I couldn't relate at all to 16-year-old math whiz graduate students when I was in the same competitive grad school in a different field: my gift is organized around language/languages. IMO
I so feel for this child.

 

[ch_13]

I am so angry that no criminal charges will be filed against the Trails organization. I understand them maybe not deciding to go after the employees who were simply following their training (or lack thereof) but why no charges for the persons who profit off the abuse of these children is beyond me.

They created the atmosphere, they failed to properly train and supervise, they profited off desperate parents and children those parents thought needed "fixing". They will simply move to another area (probably already have) and continue to profit and abuse because nothing prevents them. Zero consequences and a 12 year old child is dead.

Unfortunately, it is extremely hard in the U.S. to get a conviction against a higher-up for malfeasance. We've seen it time and time again. Juries want to see some kind of hard proof. Like a document where the executive says "I know this is illegal, but I order you to do it anyways." Without a paper trail or a strong witness, the exec has reasonable doubt on their side. They can just point fingers at their underlings and say, I never told them to do this, they did it all on their own.

I imagine that the prosecutors took a long look at this case and what it would take to get a conviction, and decided that they didn't have a good chance against a strong legal team. (And of course, execs will always have a retinue of high-priced attorneys.)

 

[tlcya]

Unfortunately, it is extremely hard in the U.S. to get a conviction against a higher-up for malfeasance. We've seen it time and time again. Juries want to see some kind of hard proof. Like a document where the executive says "I know this is illegal, but I order you to do it anyways." Without a paper trail or a strong witness, the exec has reasonable doubt on their side. They can just point fingers at their underlings and say, I never told them to do this, they did it all on their own.

I imagine that the prosecutors took a long look at this case and what it would take to get a conviction, and decided that they didn't have a good chance against a strong legal team. (And of course, execs will always have a retinue of high-priced attorneys.)

logically you make good points and it makes sense. Morally I am outraged. And more children will die.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I imagine that the prosecutors took a long look at this case and what it would take to get a conviction, and decided that they didn't have a good chance against a strong legal team. (And of course, execs will always have a retinue of high-priced attorneys.)

Well, what about the person or people who actually locked him into the bivy? They literally abused a child, too, in a way that resulted in death. It wasn't intended, but death as a result of abuse is often not the intended outcome, yet it's still often prosecuted as one crime or another.

@tlcya I remain angry with you. Not a single person is going to fight for justice for this child, apparently.

All JMO.

 

[LoveyG]

MOO:

Well said, @tlcya.

What does it tell society when -- they forced a child into a completely enclosed sleeping bag against his will and locked him inside, and he literally suffocated and no one noticed for hours, but that "did not involve criminal intent or recklessness sufficient to warrant criminal charges for involuntary manslaughter under the law?"

(Bolded by me)

It doesn't even meet the definition of involuntary manslaughter? So it's an acceptable outcome under the law?

Imagine being the one to tell his family that -- well they did all that to your child, and he died, but we find it legal. Sorry for your loss.

No criminal charges to be filed in suffocation death of 12-year-old boy at North Carolina wilderness camp

No criminal charges to be filed in suffocation death of 12-year-old boy at North Carolina wilderness camp

www.yahoo.com

I wonder if it would have been different if the victim was an adult forced into a locked enclosure and suffocated, rather than a child.

 

[ch_13]

Well, what about the person or people who actually locked him into the bivy? They literally abused a child, too, in a way that resulted in death. It wasn't intended, but death as a result of abuse is often not the intended outcome, yet it's still often prosecuted as one crime or another.

@tlcya I remain angry with you. Not a single person is going to fight for justice for this child, apparently.

All JMO.

I was specifically speaking about the higher-ups, and why they aren't being prosecuted. I agree that the care-givers directly responsible for the boy's death should be held accountable.

And that brings up something I remember from the early days of this thread: Supposedly, the staff were checking on the boy every hour or so. Yet, he was stiff and cold to the touch when they discovered his body. How could his body be in that state if they were doing regular checks? Beyond the fact that they should never have been using those bivvies in the first place, I think someone was outright negligent in their duties.

I wonder if it would have been different if the victim was an adult forced into a locked enclosure and suffocated, rather than a child.

I have to wonder if the boy's parents refused to assist with any prosecution. A jury would want to see the parents on the stand to humanize the victim. Without that, it would be easy for the defense to paint him however they wanted.

 

[Lilibet]

I have to wonder if the boy's parents refused to assist with any prosecution. A jury would want to see the parents on the stand to humanize the victim. Without that, it would be easy for the defense to paint him however they wanted.

I’ve wondered the same thing. They must know that they’d be raked over the coals by the defense if they testified.

JMO

 

[Lilibet]

I agree that the care-givers directly responsible for the boy's death should be held accountable.

One of the caregivers said this:

One camp staff member told state investigators: “I didn’t check as thoroughly as I should have,” according to the DHHS report. “My actions that night was to perform night checks... that was my responsibility, which I failed on... I do feel like the bivy had a lot to do with it.”

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article295134564.html

 

[RickshawFan]

I was specifically speaking about the higher-ups, and why they aren't being prosecuted. I agree that the care-givers directly responsible for the boy's death should be held accountable.

And that brings up something I remember from the early days of this thread: Supposedly, the staff were checking on the boy every hour or so. Yet, he was stiff and cold to the touch when they discovered his body. How could his body be in that state if they were doing regular checks? Beyond the fact that they should never have been using those bivvies in the first place, I think someone was outright negligent in their duties.


I have to wonder if the boy's parents refused to assist with any prosecution. A jury would want to see the parents on the stand to humanize the victim. Without that, it would be easy for the defense to paint him however they wanted.

That story was revised. I believe in the police report? But it's been a while now, so I doubt I can dig it up.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In the year since that boy’s death, Trails Carolina has settled a lawsuit, been sued two more times, had their licensure revoked by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, listed the Lake Toxaway camp property for sale, appealed the license revocation, and then subsequently dropped that appeal.

https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/where-does-trails-carolina-stand-1-year-since-the-death-of-12-year-old-boy-at-north-carolina-troubled-teen-camp/