Teen Death Ruled Homicide
Probe targets two other fatalities at handicap centers
By Steve Olafson
Originally published in the Houston Chronicle, May 14, 2002
ANGLETON — The death of a 15-year-old girl at a residential treatment center for the mentally disabled has been ruled a homicide and spurred investigations of at least two other teens' deaths.
Latasha Bush died Feb. 27, three days after she had been restrained by attendants at the Daystar Residential Treatment Facility in Manvel, in northern Brazoria County.
The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy and concluded that her death resulted from complications of mechanical asphyxia, a term meaning that her chest or airways had been compressed so that she was unable to breathe.
"I'm angry. I'm upset," said the teen-ager's mother, Leslie Brown, a 34-year-old school bus driver in Beaufort, S.C.
"I'm questioning why, more than anything," she said. "How could they do it? She was only a child. She was only 15 years old."
The girl's death, as well as the deaths of at least two other teen-agers, has been under investigation since March.
A 16-year-old died last year at the Shiloh Residential Treatment Center, a sister facility to Daystar, and another 16-year-old died in 1993 at a facility that preceded Daystar, called the Behavior Training Research Facility.
Like Bush, the 16-year-old girls died after they were restrained, according to autopsy and police reports.
While Bush's death has been ruled a homicide, the two others were called accidental deaths caused by heart failure.
Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said those three deaths, and any others that may have occurred at the Shiloh and Daystar facilities, are being reviewed and that the results of the investigation probably will be presented to a grand jury in about two months.
"We want to be sure we have all the information before we go to the grand jury," she said.
In March, Cal Salls, executive director of Daystar, attributed Bush's death to her ongoing health problems. He denied that the "basket hold" used by treatment center attendants to restrain her had contributed to her death.
Salls was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
A basket hold typically would involve an attendant crossing the girl's arms across her chest and holding her from behind while another attendant grabs the girl's legs and lays her on the ground.
Bush was restrained on the floor by three attendants after she became disruptive and aggressive, Salls said.
A Brazoria County Sheriff's Department report said the basket hold was used after Bush had a verbal altercation with the staff.
The teen-ager broke free from staff members who initially tried to restrain her before the basket hold was used, the report said.
Mark Collmer, an attorney hired by the girl's mother, said he will file a lawsuit alleging gross negligence this week in Brazoria County.
Collmer said the autopsy revealed hemorrhaging in the girl's eyes, which he said "usually comes from strangulation," as well as bruises around her neck and on her back, which he said apparently were inflicted during the basket hold restraint.
"It means you were killed because you were held down," he said of the autopsy. "It's hard to breathe with three people sitting on you."
The autopsy listed a seizure disorder and obesity as contributing factors in Bush's death.
The teen-ager, who was mentally retarded and had bipolar disorder, had been placed at Daystar by Children's Protective Services in Bell County, according to police reports.
She had lived at Daystar for 12 days before her death, and the facility was entitled to reimbursement of $277.07 by the state for each day of her stay, according to a CPS spokeswoman.
