Three Charged in Death of Black 16-Year-Old Who Died After Being Restrained at Facility

Three residential facility workers in Michigan were charged with involuntary manslaughter after 16-year-old Cornelius Fredericks died after he was restrained.

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UPDATED 7/8, 8:31 p.m. ET: The lawyer representing Cornelius Fredericks' estate has released security footage that sheds more light on what led to the teenager's death.

Geoffrey Fieger released the video to reporters Tuesday, more than two months after 16-year-old Cornelius went into cardiac arrest. The video shows at least seven men holding the Black teen down in a cafeteria at Lakeside Academy, which is for children in the Michigan foster care and juvenile justice systems. The men piled on Cornelius after he threw sandwich, and held him down for approximately 12 minutes as he shouted, "I can't breathe."

The boy was transferred to the hospital, where he died two days later. Facility staffers Zachary Raul Solis and Michael Joshua Mosley, were charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse for the involvement in the incident; a nurse at the academy, Heather Newton McLogan, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse, as she is accused of failing to obtain medical care in a timely fashion for teen. 

Fieger argues that the surveillance video shows that more than three people were responsible for Cornelius' death, and he is now calling on prosecutors to pursue more charges.

"As you can see in the video, far more than two people are involved in suffocating him," Fieger said. "I would urge them to reconsider the other people ... who are clearly involved in the killing of Cornelius."

See original story below.

Three residential facility workers in Michigan have been charged with involuntary manslaughter after 16-year-old Cornelius Fredericks died after he was restrained. 

CNN reports that the staff members restrained Fredericks while he stayed at Lakeside Academy, a residential treatment facility for individuals between ages 12 to 18 placed in the foster care system. Fredericks died on May 1, just two days after staff restrained him and caused him to go into cardiac arrest. The charges against the staff members were announced by Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting on Wednesday.

According to Getting, Fredericks was restrained across his torso by the staff, which led to his death. He allegedly threw some of his sandwich at another resident at Lakeside Academy, prompting the staff to use an "improper restraint." Tenia Goshay is representing Frederick's estate and asking for $100 million in damages, attorney Jonathan Marko said. 

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services launched an investigation into the facility following Fredericks' death, and determined the restraint used on him was "significantly disproportionate" to what Fredericks was accused of doing. Per CNN, a fourth individual was charged with negligence when they allegedly neglected to seek the necessary medical care for Fredericks.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has since terminated its contracts with Lakeside Academy, and has started to begin the process of revoking its license. The MDHHS in total found "10 licensing violations, including a failure to follow rules related ro resident restraint and discipline." The owner of Lakeside, Sequel Youth & Family Services, said that it will be "making the necessary changes to ensure something like this never happens again."

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