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 Death
Probe Frustrates Mom
Portage woman seeks answers about restraint of son at
Parchment school.
by Stephanie Esters, Kalamazoo Gazette, November 17, 2003
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Nearly three
months after the death of her son at Parchment High School,
Elizabeth Johnson is searching for answers.
She doesn't know the cause of his death.
She hasn't been told the details of what happened.
She doesn't know for sure how or why her son was physically
restrained by school staff, or why medical personnel weren't
called sooner.
Today would have been the 16th birthday of Michael Renner-Lewis
III. Instead of celebrating, the Portage mother is filled with
frustration at police and school officials as the investigation
into the boy's death continues.
"The thing that hurts me is ... I cannot get any information,"
said Johnson, who initially urged patience with the
investigation, in her first personal interview about her son's
death.
"I am upset at the school. I'm angry, frustrated ... (The
attitude seems to be) don't talk about it."
Michael, who was autistic, died Aug. 25 on the first day of
school. Police said the 6-foot, 165-pound boy was physically
restrained by several school staffers after he experienced
"seizure-like" symptoms and became agitated about 12:30 p.m.
At some point, the boy became unconscious. He was pronounced
dead at Bronson Methodist Hospital at 2:30 p.m., although
Johnson says it's her understanding Michael was dead when he
arrived at the hospital.
The initial autopsy did not establish a cause of death.
Officials from the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service
Agency, which employed the aide who worked with Michael, and the
Parchment School District are declining comment about the death
and have referred inquiries to their attorneys.
Johnson said school officials also are not talking to her.
"They're not giving the family any idea of what happened," said
Karen Brown, a family friend. "Our best information has come
from the Gazette."
Craig Mutch, a Grand Rapids attorney who represents KRESA, said
today it is his understanding that some information has been
shared with Johnson, but noted the police investigation in the
case is not yet complete.
"From our point of view, our hands are tied," he said.
Calls from school
Michael was his usual happy self that Monday morning, his mother
remembers, playing his favorite song, "I Can Only Imagine," over
and over in his bedroom.
He was excited about the start of his sophomore year, dressing
in the acid-washed jeans and black-and-beige checkered shirt
that he had meticulously ironed and laid over a chair the night
before, Johnson said.
Michael headed off to school around 7 a.m., and Johnson went to
her nursing job in Kalamazoo. She planned to leave work early
that day to pick up her son and hear about his day.
But around 12:50 p.m., Johnson said, she received a call at work
from a woman who described herself as Michael's teacher.
The woman told her that Michael had had a seizure and was now
asleep, but that he needed to be picked up.
Johnson said she interrupted the woman when she mentioned a
seizure. "I said, 'No, uh-uh, he never had a seizure in his
life.' "
When the call came, Johnson was in the midst of helping with a
medical procedure. Since the call didn't sound urgent, she asked
a friend, Phyllis Wall, to pick up Michael at school.
Wall said she arrived around 1:25 p.m. She has told the Gazette
that she was led to a room where Michael was face down on the
floor and being restrained by at least four adults. She realized
Michael wasn't conscious, Wall said, and told the staffers to
turn Michael on his back, which they did, and she started
cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The 911 call was made at 1:57 p.m., according to police records.
Around the same time, Johnson said, she received a second call
from the school principal, saying her son might need to go to
the hospital. School officials have refused to comment on any
aspect of the case, including who made the phone calls.
Confused by the second phone message, Johnson said, she called
Wall's cell phone. "She said, 'I'm busy, Elizabeth, I'm busy, I
can't talk to you,' " Johnson said.
Johnson headed to Bronson, arriving before her son. Shortly
afterwards, medical personnel told her that Michael was dead and
that the reason was unclear.
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department is continuing to
investigate the case and awaiting results of a toxicology report
and a determination on the cause of death, Detective Sgt. Donald
McGehee said.
In the past two weeks, McGehee said, investigators gave a
forensic pathologist in Lansing some of Michael's medical and
educational records, as well as statements from the KRESA and
Parchment staffers involved in the restraint.
That pathologist, Dr. Joyce DeJong, who conducted the initial
autopsy, was consulting with experts in restraint-related deaths
to help determine how Michael died, said Dr. Richard Tooker, the
Kalamazoo County medical examiner. DeJong's office has deferred
comment to Tooker's office.
Dr. Wayne Carver, chief medical examiner for Connecticut, a
state active in addressing restraint-related deaths, has told
the Kalamazoo Gazette that lack of physical evidence is typical
in such cases. He said the most likely cause of death during a
restraint is asphyxiation, in which a victim is positioned in
such a way that airways are accidentally blocked. "It's pretty
possible to kill a person this way and leave absolutely no trace
that can be found in an autopsy," Carver told the Gazette.
McGehee said it's his experience that autopsy results are
usually available in one to two months.
"This is atypical," McGehee said. "My experience has usually
been four to eight weeks, but as to why this is taking longer, I
really don't have a good answer for you.
The still-awaited toxicology report is one piece of the final
autopsy report, he said, "but ultimately it's up to the
pathologist to determine when she believes the autopsy is
complete."
McGehee said the sheriff's department has tried to keep Johnson
briefed on the investigation.
"From my perspective, I thought we answered all the questions
she has," he said, but added, "Some of this stuff I don't have
answers to."
Close relationship
Michael was born in Kalamazoo in 1987 to Michael and Elizabeth
Renner-Lewis II, natives of Sierra Leone on the west coast of
Africa. The couple, now divorced, also have 13-year-old twin
daughters.
After Michael's birth, the family lived in London off and on
before returning to Kalamazoo when Michael was 5. That was the
same year he was diagnosed with autism, a brain disorder
characterized by problems with social and communication skills.
Autistic children are often hypersensitive to their surroundings
and easily overwhelmed.
Johnson said that, like many autistic children, Michael had
problems in verbal communication. While some autistic children
become physically combative when agitated, Michael was more
likely to hold his head and scream.
Autistic children also can show exceptional intelligence in a
particular area. Michael had a special talent for formulating
complex mathematical computations, his mother said.
"Michael and I were so close," Johnson said. "He looked to me to
finish his sentences" and help others understand what he was
trying to say.
"I was part of him, and he was part of me."
Michael loved to sing and draw -- about a dozen samples of his
work are stacked in Johnson's living room. The items were on
display recently at the Douglass Community Association in
Kalamazoo.
Michael didn't like crowds and was nervous around strangers, but
he also could be giggly and loved to laugh, Johnson said.
Johnson remembered the time Michael took off her wig while they
were out in a store.
"I was like, 'Oh my goodness,' " Johnson said. "And he's
standing there laughing. He did funny things like that."
Because of his disability, Michael's education was overseen by
Community Mental Health through KRESA, which coordinates
special-education services for Kalamazoo County school
districts. For high school, Michael was assigned to Parchment,
where he spent part of the day in a special-education classroom
staffed by KRESA and part of the day in regular classes.
As a special-education student, Michael had an Individual
Education Plan prepared by his mother and school officials.
Johnson said the plan specified that when Michael became
agitated at school, he was to be moved to a quieter location to
help him calm down. Last year, she said, the school district
telephoned her when her son became agitated, and she calmed him
down.
Use of physical restraint was not mentioned in the plan, Johnson
said.
"I was horrified -- horrified is the word -- to hear that
Michael was being restrained in school," Johnson said. "I never
discussed restraints with the school, and if he was being
restrained, he should not have been."
Speaking out
In the days after Michael's death, Johnson and Michael's father,
who lives in Parchment, called a press conference in which they
urged the public to await results of the investigation before
drawing conclusions.
But now, almost three months later, Johnson says it's time for
the questions to be answered.
Johnson said the suggestion her son was combative at school that
day does not fit with the teen's gentle, fun-loving nature.
"They never, ever called me that day to say he was behaving
badly," she said.
"Michael never hit anybody."
Johnson said Michael was healthy and had a physical in June at
the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She said her son was on
about three medications, which he had been taking for a year.
The family is seeking legal counsel to ascertain what happened,
she said. She isn't saying now whether a lawsuit will be filed.
As Michael approached his 16th birthday, he wanted to learn to
drive and was excited about moving into a new house, planned for
December, with his mother and sisters.
But instead of a birthday celebration today, a small close-knit
group of family and friends expects to visit Michael's grave. On
Sunday, they gathered at Johnson's house to remember the teen.
Johnson said it is part of Sierra Leone tradition to commemorate
a family member on the first birthday after his or her death.
She said she is talking to the media now because she fears the
investigation is stalled.
"Autistic people are very vulnerable," Johnson said. "That's why
I'm speaking out for all people like Michael because he couldn't
help himself. He could not defend himself.
"You don't know how Michael loved life. Michael didn't want to
die."
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