Mother to get $2.28M in Tryon death

PHOTOGRAPHER: Edward Munger Jr.

The mother of a young inmate who died during a 2006 scuffle at the Tryon Residential Center will receive more than $2.28 million from a lawsuit settlement reached last week.

U.S. District Court Judge David N. Hurd approved a $3.5 million payout Nov. 30 to settle federal and state actions filed on behalf of the late Darryl Thompson, who died at age 15 after being restrained.

Thompson’s mother, Anntwanisha Thompson of the Bronx, will receive $2,284,154.01 as administrator of her son’s estate and the remaining portion, more than $1.2 million, will be paid out for litigation expenses and attorney fees, according to Hurd’s order.

The settlement resolves both the federal civil rights lawsuit and a wrongful death action pending in the New York Court of Claims, both filed on Thompson’s behalf by Amsterdam attorney E. Robert Keach III.

Operated by the state Office of Children and Family Services, the Tryon Residential Facility on County Route 107 was among four youth detention centers, operated to house juvenile delinquents, that were shut down by the state last summer.

It was run as two centers: one for boys, which was closed in the summer of 2010, and a girls’ center that shut down in August.

The closure, prompted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s goal to cut 377 beds at residential centers throughout the state to save $26 million, eliminated roughly 200 jobs at the site.

‘Two-man restraint’

Keach in the lawsuits targeted OCFS officials and two youth division aides involved in restraining Thompson after a shouting match prompted by the denial of recreation time, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.

In the complaint, Keach said Thompson pushed aide John P. Johnson before being subjected to a “two-man restraint” by Johnson and another aide, Robert Murphy, with one placing his weight on top of Thompson’s torso and the other restraining his legs.

Keach alleged Thompson complained about not being able to breathe but he was not released from the restraint until he was unconscious.

Efforts to revive Thompson didn’t begin until several minutes later, according to the lawsuit.

An autopsy at Albany Medical Center Hospital revealed Thompson died from a heart arrhythmia caused by stress. Medical examiner Dr. Michael Sikirica found no evidence of excessive force but ruled the death a homicide because the incident brought on stress that contributed to the heart arrhythmia.

The case was reviewed by a Fulton County grand jury, which declined to indict any of those involved.

Keach on Monday referred questions to an affirmation he submitted to the court supporting the settlement.

In that document, Keach said the fact that seven different youth division aides never tried to revive Thompson with CPR is “simply unforgivable.”

“No amount of money will bring this young man back to life; no amount of money can compensate his loved ones for his absence,” Keach wrote in the affirmation.

“No amount of money can take away the belief that a serious wrong was done here; a wrong that has only been partially addressed through the resolution of this lawsuit.”

The state Attorney General’s Office did not respond Monday to a request for comment on the settlement.