JOHNSTOWN, N.Y., March 4 (UPI) -- The death of a 15-year-old at an upstate New York youth facility is focusing attention on the use of physical restraint in all of the state's youth centers.
The New York Times said Darryl Thompson died Nov. 18, 2006, at the Tryon Center in Johnstown.
Thompson pushed a staff member out of anger because his recreational privileges had been limited, the newspaper reported. Two staff members -- John P. Johnson and Robert Murphy -- restrained him face-down on a bathroom floor. Thompson stopped breathing and died at a hospital, The Times reported.
The Times said opinions vary on Thompson's death. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide. The district attorney is sending it to a grand jury but said she doesn't consider it intentional. The Tryon aides' lawyer said his clients were doing what they were trained to do. Darryl Thompson's mother said her son was murdered.
"I want them to be held accountable," Anntwanisha Thompson told The Times.
