Background: Elbert Shaw Regional Youth Detention Center in Dalton, Georgia (WTVC/YouTube). Inset: Alexis Marie Sluder (Bernhardt Funeral Home).
A 16-year-old runaway died after overdosing on methamphetamine in a youth detention center in Georgia hours after she was arrested, and authorities did nothing as they watched her convulse, writhe in pain and cry for help until it was too late, her family alleges in a lawsuit filed this week.
Alexis Marie Sluder died in 2022 at the Elbert Shaw Regional Youth Detention Center in Dalton, according to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a federal court in Georgia. Dalton is about 90 miles north of Atlanta.
“Instead of monitoring her health and safety, they watched her die,” said Sam Harton, the family’s lawyer, in a news conference. “No one even picked up the phone to call 911 until after Alexis stopped breathing.”
The lawsuit names five Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice employees as defendants, including an officer, a cadet, a sergeant, a nurse, and the facility’s director. It also names Augusta University, the medical and mental health services provider for juvenile detainees at the facility.
In a statement, the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice said it “is committed to the well-being and safety of the individuals entrusted to our care. We remain deeply saddened by this tragic incident and continue to hold heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the family of the deceased.”
A media representative for Augusta University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
The events leading to Sluder’s death began after her arrest for possession of methamphetamine and shoplifting on Aug. 26, 2022, court documents said. She was issued a ticket and jailed before being transferred to Elbert, where she was booked at 9 p.m.
Upon booking, Gilmer County Sgt. Sharon Ellis “failed to note that methamphetamine or any other foreign substance was found on Alexis Sluder’s person,” even though she had noted she saw a white substance on the police vehicle seat next to Sluder earlier, the lawsuit said.
Notes in her medical screening indicated Sluder had “medical problems,” had previously been hospitalized, and was taking medication. Sluder had depression, bipolar anxiety, and schizophrenia, the lawsuit said.
In her mental health screening, when asked why she was at the facility, Sluder said, “because I ran away.” She also said she had attempted suicide, had recently been sexually abused, had been hospitalized for an overdose the previous month and “sometimes sees shadow people that are not there,” court documents said. Her answers warranted four “Warning” and four “Caution” notations.
Sluder’s answers about drug and alcohol use were “explicitly excluded from the ‘Warning’ and ‘Caution’ totals,” court documents said.
Sluder told authorities that just before she was about to be arrested before arriving at the facility, she “ate the meth she had on her when the cops came and she realized she might be going to jail” and “she had taken other unknown items earlier in the day as she felt suicidal over the last 3 weeks and currently feels this way,” court documents said.
Ellis declined to take her to the hospital, saying she wasn’t permitted to because she had already released her into the custody of the state of Georgia, “so she no longer had jurisdiction to transport Alexis Sluder,” court documents said.
Instead, Sluder was placed in a room equipped with a live video feed where she could be constantly monitored.
In her cell, Sluder began to suffer a medical emergency. She convulsed, writhed in pain, thrashed about, sweated profusely, and breathed heavily. The overdose symptoms lasted over four hours, court documents said.
Despite an employee, Rebecka Phillips, being with Sluder the entire time, a second employee, Maveis Brooks, being with her intermittently, and Cadet Russell Ballard watching via the video feed from a control room, no one did anything, the lawsuit alleges.
During the final two hours of the medical emergency, Sluder lay on the ground, nearly motionless. At one point, Sluder even reached out and grasped toward the ankle of Phillips, who stood over her, watched, and did nothing to help her, court documents said.
At another point, Sluder turned to the camera and said, “Someone please help me. I took something,” the lawsuit alleges.
The defendants talked about the girl’s condition but didn’t act, saying they did not have enough officers on staff to take her to a hospital without violating a policy, court documents said.
“There is no policy set forth by the State of Georgia, the Department of Justice, and the Dalton RYDC preventing State employees from calling 9-1-1 or another emergency medical services to transport juveniles to the hospital in a medical emergency,” the lawsuit said. “Alexis Sluder was not suspected of a violent crime. Alexis Sluder was not arrested for a violent crime. There was no legitimate penological interest in keeping Alexis Sluder from going to the hospital.”
At 3:12 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2022, Phillips advised over the radio that Sluder “was not breathing properly,” the lawsuit said.
Brooks went to the cell, assessed Sluder and advised Ballard in the control room to call 911.
“Soon after Sergeant Maveis Brooks advised Defendant Cadet Ballard to call 9-1-1, Alexis Sluder stopped breathing,” court documents said.
The 911 call was made, and Brooks and Phillips began lifesaving measures, but Sluder was pronounced dead from methamphetamine toxicity at 4:26 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2022, court documents said.
The five employees were terminated from their jobs stemming from the death. They were indicted on charges of cruelty to children a year later, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Their cases are pending.
The parents have shared their pain over the death of their daughter, who once won an award for “Prettiest Smile,” enjoyed playing softball and was set to graduate from Gilmer High School this year. Instead, her school reserved a seat for her at the ceremony on May 24, where she graduated posthumously.
“I didn’t get to watch her pick out her first car, go to the prom, or graduate this past year with her friends,” her mother, Melanie Hogan Sluder, said in a statement. “I am lost without her, and not a minute goes by that I don’t think about her and what she would be doing.”
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