Details of emergency call in child death at Western NC wilderness camp
The person who called emergency officials about the Feb. 3 death of a child at a Western North Carolina wilderness therapeutic camp gave halting answers, said they were attempting life-saving procedures and then stopped responding to the 911 dispatcher, according to a transcript of the call.
The Citizen Times received the transcript Feb. 14 through a public records request of the Transylvania County Sheriff's Office. The person making the call at 8:09 a.m. identified themselves as an instructor at Trails Carolina Wilderness Therapy and said, "we just woke kids today and we have a kid that's not responsive."
The camp, located in the Lake Toxaway community, offers outdoor experiential mental health treatment to children and adolescents at an average price of $66,000 for an 83-day program.
The dispatcher asked for an address, to which the instructor said, "just one sec." The instructor then said the child, identified in other records as a 12-year-old boy from New York, was "very cold."
"We are checking for a pulse. We are trying to resuscitate him right now," they said.
The dispatcher said emergency responders would head that way. The instructor should have someone flag down the responders and show them where to go, the dispatcher said. Then the caller should be ready to answer some more questions. But there was no response, despite the dispatcher repeatedly calling out and staying on the line for another minute before the call was disconnected.
Deputies who came upon the scene in the camp bunkhouse found the child with a CPR mask on his face and not wearing any pants or underwear, though pants and underwear were next to him, according to search warrants. Deputies said they were unclear about why the body was in that state. They interviewed one counselor, Jackson Hunt, who said the boy arrived the night before and had been at the camp less than 24 hours. He was "loud and irate" when he arrived and later had a panic attack. and Hunt and another counselor stood against the wall. Hunt did not say if he or other counselors attempted to assist the boy, the warrant said.
In the investigation that followed, deputies have said they and state social workers were stopped from talking to children who were present and have struggled to make contact with two of the four staffers who were there. The camp has disputed sheriff's office statements that they were not cooperating fully and said they were following the law by consulting first with parents.
Investigators are awaiting toxicology results and have said foam observed at the child's mouth could indicate he ingested a poisonous substance.
The Citizen Times has reached out to a camp spokesperson.
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Joel Burgess has lived in WNC for more than 20 years, covering politics, government and other news. He's written award-winning stories on topics ranging from gerrymandering to police use of force. Got a tip? Contact Burgess at jburgess@citizentimes.com, 828-713-1095 or on Twitter @AVLreporter. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Details of emergency call in child death at Western NC wilderness camp
