City sued over DHS boy's death in Tenn.

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, December, 2007 | by John Sullivan Inquirer Staff Writer

The family of a Philadelphia teenager who was killed when staff at a Tennessee treatment center put him into a restraint hold sued the city yesterday, saying the child-welfare agency sent him there despite warnings that the facility was dangerous. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, alleges that the city's Department of Human Services and a city-associated mental-health organization acted in "shocking disregard" for the safety of Omega Leach, 17, by not warning Family Court about the "manifestly unsafe and dangerous conditions" at the center.

Also named in the suit were the Chad Youth Enhancement Center, the juvenile mental-health center outside Nashville where the boy was fatally injured June 2, and Universal Health Services, the King of Prussia company...