'What if I'm paralyzed?' teen asks in Franklin County juvenile jail cell after fight

On surveillance camera inside the Franklin County juvenile jail, 15-year-old Damarion Allen takes what will be his last steps.

Although he’s supposed to be separated from others, Allen immediately crosses paths with another teen. The two have history.

The video shows the two male teens squaring off to fight while a guard, Latashia Lewis, watches.

Allen flies forward to tackle the other teen around the waist. They grapple and slam to the ground.

Allen’s head hits the floor, and he goes limp like a rag doll. The other teen kicks Allen in the head before guards pull him away.

Soon, Lewis and other guards grab Allen by his arms and under his armpits. They drag Allen toward his cell, his legs trailing uselessly behind them. On a short flight of four stairs, Lewis loses her grip and drops Allen to the floor.

Allen complains about his neck and begs staff to put him on his back. A guard, Luke Edo, twice questions if Allen can walk.

“He says he can’t walk,” Edo says.

Talia Sumney, the shift supervisor, insists "no, he can walk" and directs guards to move Allen into his cell.

“Get him in his room no matter what it takes. We need to use force," Sumney says.

"We are not putting you on your back," she tells Allen.

Guards leave Allen in his cell draped half on the floor, half on a bunk. A nurse wearing blue scrubs arrives to examine him, poking his belly and lifting his legs.

On the cell floor with his limp legs next to the toilet, Allen asks quietly: “What if I’m paralyzed?”

This all happened May 7 inside the Franklin County Juvenile Intervention Center (also called the Detention Center). A 10-second fight changed Allen's life forever.

A broken neck and spine have left Allen paralyzed from the chest down, according to his mother and attorneys, and he has limited use of his arms and hands.

Since The Dispatch first reported on the incident in May, the newspaper has sought public records from the Franklin County Juvenile Court, which operates the detention center. This week, the county Prosecutor's Office, which represents the court and other county agencies in legal matters, released records to The Dispatch that reveal a guard's error allowed the fight to happen, and that guards used improper force on Allen after he was injured, according to an internal investigator.

Family upset by video, intends to sue Franklin County Juvenile Court

Allen's mother, Mary S. Washington, who lives in Columbus' Linden area, told The Dispatch that she intends to sue the Franklin County Juvenile Court and the staff at the detention center who were involved. Washington, represented by attorney Rex Elliott and his Columbus law firm Cooper Elliott, has been fighting with the county for months for answers about what happened inside the juvenile center.

After getting the video footage last week, Washington said that the video made her angry, seeing how guards handled her son after the fight.

"It don't take no rocket scientist or a doctor or somebody like that to know that you don't touch this person. This person has been hurt severely. Get immediate — immediate — medical attention," Washington said. "All that pulling and grabbing on him and lifting the head up, that's what made the injuries more severe."

Allen told The Dispatch that when he regained consciousness after hitting the ground, he realized he couldn't move his legs and he tried telling the guards.

"They were not listening. They just dragging me. I'm looking at my legs and they look like noodles, like I can't feel them," Allen said. "And I'm trying to tell them, my neck, but they wouldn't listen."

What the records, internal investigation show

In response to public records requests made in May to Franklin County, The Dispatch this week received records and video footage from three surveillance cameras and two hand-held cameras. Allen's face and that of the other juvenile in the fight were blurred in the videos provided to the newspaper.

The fight happened at 7:17 p.m. At 7:26 p.m., a nurse asked that paramedics be called. Columbus Division of Fire paramedics arrived around 7:45 p.m., and rolled Allen out on a gurney less than ten minutes later.

Audio from a nurse examining Allen in the jail was redacted by the county on the basis that it contained medical information, but The Dispatch reviewed the version given to Allen's family, which was not redacted.

The newspaper also received an internal investigation by Unit Manager Alfred Brown that found wrongdoing by two staff members: guard Latashia Lewis and supervisor Talia Sumney.

According to the investigation, the two boys should never have been near each other since Allen was in medical isolation pending his transfer to an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility. Before going to Ohio’s youth prisons, juveniles are kept separate from other detainees for a week so they don’t bring COVID-19 into the state facility.

Lewis allowed Allen and the other youth to be out of their cells at the same time in violation of a court order, medical orders and internal policies, the investigation concluded.

Records show Lewis let them out to take showers in separate bathrooms, and they ran into each other in the common area after their showers.

The investigation also concluded that Lewis and Sumney violated their American Red Cross training and used improper force on Allen, who was injured and not resisting. Sumney also directed three guards to use improper force.

According to the county juvenile court's policy, guards can use physical force on a detainee in self-defense, to protect others, protect property, prevent escape or to maintain or regain control. The policy states guards should use physical force that is proportional as a last resort and only until control has been gained.

Investigative report: Ohio youth prison system struggles with violence, staff vacancies

During interviews with the investigator, Sumney and Lewis said they did not hear Allen say he could not walk. Video and interviews with other staff who were present contradict that, county records show.

Angel Render, a guard, reported that while Allen was on the ground, Lewis told Render, "He said he can’t move, but you know he plays a lot.”

Render also said Lewis told Sumney that Allen "said he can't move," and "he said he can't feel his legs."

Render told Sumney “this is serious," but Sumney continued to instruct guards to remove items from Allen's cell so they could move him in there.

Franklin County guards are on paid administrative leave, records show

The investigator recommended both Lewis and Sumney receive "formal discipline up to and including termination."

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Lasheyl Stroud, who leads the court's Juvenile Division, and Christopher Ward, superintendent of the county Juvenile Intervention Center, declined via a spokesperson to comment for this story.

The Dispatch requested Lewis and Sumney's personnel files. According to the records the court sent, both women were placed on administrative leave on May 19, and barred from entering the center or any other court facility.

According to the county's public payroll website, both Lewis and Sumney were still receiving a paycheck as of Tuesday.

Sumney was hired by the court in September and Lewis was hired in March.

Family of Damarion Allen wants money to care for son and accountability

When Allen went to Nationwide Children's Hospital, his neck and spine were broken, Washington said. He required surgery to stabilize his neck. After his lungs collapsed, he spent a week unconscious, she said.

Allen left Nationwide Children's Hospital on July 26 using a wheelchair and wearing a GPS ankle monitor.

Washington said what happened on May 7 destroyed Allen's life, as well as her own.

Allen said he sometimes feels like a baby since he relies on his mother and four younger siblings for almost everything now. He can't feed himself, change his catheter, transfer himself from his wheelchair to his bed or propel his wheelchair more than a few feet.

Washington quit her job at a Lowe's the day Allen was released from the hospital so she could care for him. She said she doesn't have money for rent or other regular bills, let alone an electric wheelchair, a wheelchair-accessible van or to make their home properly accessible.

Washington said the lawsuit she intends to file is necessary because she needs financial resources to care for Allen, but also because she wants accountability and change at the juvenile jail "so this never happens to another kid ever again."

Elliott, one of Washington's lawyers, said they would have sued sooner, but they just received the video and other records.

"Juvenile Detention Center staff has effectively sentenced Damarion to imprisonment inside his own body for life," Elliott said.

Allen needs to be able to focus on healing, Elliott said, and he has the right attitude.

Related: Prison abuse case: Ohio pays $17.5 million to paralyzed man tackled by Chillicothe guards

A former football and lacrosse player, Allen said he's motivated to regain strength in his arms and dexterity in his hands so he can be independent someday. He said he wants to play wheelchair sports and is particularly interested in trying wheelchair rugby.

"I had a lot of dreams," Allen said. "To me, it's a mental game ... You can't let your mind get the best of you. That's when everything goes left."

Laura Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Family to sue Franklin County after jail fight leaves teen paralyzed