Parents Sue Facility And Staff For Boy's Restraint Death
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
August 16, 2001
MASON CITY, IOWA--On Tanner Wilson's first day at Gerard of Iowa care center two years ago, staff member Lori Ingham tried to "take him to the ground". During the attempt to restrain him, Ingham succeeded in breaking the boy's leg.
On February 9 of this year, a year and a half after being admitted to the mental health facility, Wilson died while being restrained in a "routine physical holding".
He was 11 years old.
Officials have ruled the cause of death as asphyxiation -- he suffocated to death -- and are considering it a homicide.
One of the employees allegedly involved in restraining Wilson when he died was none other than Lori Ingham. She now faces a charge of child endangerment in connection with the death.
This Tuesday, Tanner's parents, Robert and Karen Wilson, filed a lawsuit against Ingham and fellow employee Jeremy Witt, along with Gerard Treatment Programs and an affiliate known as Nexus Inc..
According to the Des Moines Register, the suit claims Ingham and Witt "used unreasonable and unnecessary force in restraining and eventually killing" the boy. It also charges Gerard, which was being paid $9,000 a month to care for Wilson, with failing to properly train and supervise its employees.
The Wilsons are asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. They say they do not want other parents to go through what they have gone through.
