Lawsuit filed in shooting death of 14-year-old boy
The family of a 14-year-old boy killed after he ran away from a foster home has filed a lawsuit against the head of the Department of Children’s Services and three of its employees.
Tirell Hill was shot to death in June, a month after he went missing from an Antioch foster home. Police continue to investigate, but no arrests have been made.
A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday claims child welfare officials failed to find a safe, stable and appropriate place for Tirell to stay during his eight months in state custody.
“I did think he was going to be safe,” said Jessica Barefield, Tirell’s mother, who filed suit on behalf of herself and Tirell’s two surviving siblings. “That’s their job. That’s their duty. They’re supposed to protect him. They’re supposed to send him to a place he couldn’t run from.”
A spokesman for DCS cited agency policy in declining to comment on pending litigation.
A month before Tirell’s death, the USA Today Network - Tennessee found that some kids were sleeping in state office buildings and in a Bellevue Church because DCS was struggling to find beds — a problem that was particularly acute for delinquent kids and children with behavioral problems.
Tirell fit both categories. He was found delinquent after being arrested on drug and gun charges and had behavioral problems and a tendency to run away.
On one occasion before his death, a caseworker texted his mother to say that Tirell would be sleeping on the floor of DCS offices because there was nowhere else to put him.
After the USA Today Network Tennessee report, Juvenile Judge Sheila Calloway issued a standing order requiring DCS to send a representative to her court every morning to account for how many children lacked a place the night before. The indefinite order continues.
In November, DCS reported that 27 children did not have a prior night’s placement. Those cases can include children who are hospitalized, in detention, waiting on another placement or waiting on an assessment to determine the appropriate placement, according to spokesman Rob Johnson.
Bonnie Hommrich, the DCS commissioner, previously said that the agency is working to add more foster homes and residential placements for youth, calling it heartbreaking for staff that try to find appropriate spots for kids who sometimes come into custody in the middle of the night or with little notice.
Barefield said she had sought counseling for Tirell before his arrest. After he was placed in DCS custody, she had renewed hope DCS would provide him with therapeutic care in a secure place, away from what she suspected was his involvement in neighborhood gang activity, she said.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages. Filed in federal court, the suit names Hommrich and three other DCS employees: Jackie Hillman, Tony Gilmore and Beverly Norman.
Barefield’s attorney, Mark Downton, has filed other lawsuits against DCS over its treatment of juvenile offenders.
He said Tuesday he hoped to “put DCS on notice that they cannot treat these kinds of kids as throwaways just because they were charged with juvenile offenses.”
Reach Anita Wadhwani at awadhwani@tennessean.com, 615259-8092 or on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.