The mother and father of a south Georgia teenager who died 10 years in the past after his physique was discovered wrapped in a wrestling health club mat at his highschool are suing the state investigation bureau and their county sheriff’s workplace to struggle again on the long-held declare that their son’s loss of life was a “freak accident.”
The go well with was particularly filed in opposition to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Workplace to dispute the conclusions in regards to the loss of life of Kendrick Johnson.
Johnson was discovered lifeless in January 2013 at Lowndes Excessive College in Valdosta by his classmates. His physique was found dealing with downward in an upright, rolled-up health club mat behind the college’s health club.
A state investigation into Johnson’s loss of life initially revealed that he died from asphyxia. After three autopsies had been carried out, findings confirmed that he died from non-accidental blunt power trauma. Investigators keep that his loss of life was unintentional and consider that he suffocated after he reached into the upright mat to retrieve a pair of footwear that fell inside and bought trapped.
Nevertheless, Johnson’s mother and father by no means purchased the story.
Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson keep the idea that somebody killed their son and bought away with homicide whereas regulation enforcement lined up the crime. They are saying proof from the third post-mortem report is inconsistent with findings from the investigation. Johnson suffered bruises to his face and higher torso in addition to lacerations on his ear, lip, knuckles, and arm, in line with the go well with. They don’t consider a health club mat might have precipitated such bruising.
They stated photographs taken of Johnson’s physique present accidents which may have been brought on by one thing like a Taser or stun gun.
“They killed the mistaken baby, however they bought the suitable mother and father as a result of we’re going to proceed to struggle for Kendrick,” Jackie Johnson informed Atlanta’s Fox 5.
The federal go well with they filed alleges that the GBI and the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Workplace disadvantaged Johnson of rights and conspired to intrude along with his civil rights within the investigation following his loss of life.
Johnson’s mother and father declare that the county sheriff and GBI conspired to “make false writings in every of its official paperwork that misrepresent materials details and current an invented narrative and faulty reason behind loss of life” for his or her son.
Legislation enforcement launched statements reporting there was no trauma or main bruising to Johnson’s physique. Authorities who initially responded to the scene the place Johnson was discovered lifeless reported they found no proof of blunt power trauma or foul play.
The Johnsons did file a $100 million wrongful loss of life lawsuit a couple of years again in opposition to two sons of an FBI agent who they believed killed Kendrick. They ended up dropping the lawsuit, and federal investigators debunked that declare.
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk has put up a $500,000 reward of his personal cash for anybody who can show that Johnson’s loss of life wasn’t an accident. Paulk has acknowledged that he feels one hundred pc positive there was no foul play.
The newest go well with filed by the Johnsons seeks $500 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages, in addition to a jury trial.
Learn the total story at Atlanta Black Star.
