Defending Those who Can’t Defend Themselves

Jonathan Carey, a boy with autism, was only 13 when he died in the back of a van at O.D. Heck in 2007. The O.D. Heck employee who was restraining him, a 9th grade dropout with a criminal record, had worked an average of more than 90 hours per week during the 15-day period leading up to Jonathan’s death. He was convicted of manslaughter, and the driver of the van, who did nothing to stop Jonathan from being crushed to death and then drove around for more than an hour afterwards, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide. The state paid Jonathan’s family $5 million in 2011 to settle two civil lawsuits his family filed related to his death. The young man in the second case, K.C., was 22 when he arrived at O.D. Heck for his short and ultimately fatal stay. At his previous institution in Kansas, K.C. was an affectionate and mischievous young man who enjoyed riding around the facility on a tricycle. His experience at Heck was a stark contrast: he spent most of his days alone on a small gym mat. If he attempted to leave the mat, staff denied him food and water … or gagged him and beat him with a stick they had dubbed “the magic wand.” He eventually died of complications from malnutrition and pneumonia. The facts of Jonathan’s and K.C.’s stories only came to light after a whistleblower employee told what she knew to the New York Times in 2011, prompting a series of investigative reports that helped spur an overhaul in how New York state handles its care of disabled persons. As part of that overhaul, O.D. Heck closed its doors this spring. Abusive conditions aren’t always a matter of intent. Closer to our area, there was the case of John Glenn Popple, whose family placed him in a group home after his care needs exceeded the abilities of his elderly and recently widowed mother. John was severely mentally disabled and his behaviors sometimes posed a danger to his own safety.