Second lawsuit filed against state agency over October fight at juvenile center

Lansing — Michigan's only state-run juvenile psychiatric facility is facing another lawsuit over an October altercation between a 10-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl.

The $50 million lawsuit, filed this week by Mollie Bonter on behalf of the girl, alleges staff at Walter Reuther Psychiatric Hospital in Westland allowed the girl into a unit of younger individuals despite knowing that her mental condition caused her to engage in confrontations with other patients.

"Capitalizing on that knowledge, they instigated, encouraged and allowed plaintiff-minor, who was 15 years old, to engage in a physical altercation with P.V., another patient at Hawthorn, who is just ten-years-old," the complaint said. The state's juvenile psychiatric services usually are housed at the Hawthorn Center, but children have been transferred to Walter Reuther while a new facility is built on the site of the former Hawthorn Center.

Bonter's filing added that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Resources' review of the incident "concluded that, in particular, one Hawthorn employee, Bria Howell, provoked plaintiff-minor into the physical confrontation with P.V."

The litigation filed in Wayne County Circuit Court on Wednesday alleges infliction of emotional distress, violations of the Michigan Child Protection Law and gross negligence, and seeks damages of up to $50 million. A separate suit with similar allegations was filed in the Court of Claims last month.

The girl's attorney, Arnold Reed, said Michigan State Police are trying to charge the girl with assault in the case.

“(The girl) has been manipulated and (they) used her as an enforcer inside facility," Reed said. "When she’d do their dirty deeds and carry them out, they would ridicule her and make fun of her and call her a monster. They would give her special treatment when she did what they wanted."

The Department of Health and Human Services in a statement Thursday said it takes very seriously "the health and safety of our patients."

"An investigation involving an incident on Oct. 18, 2023, was completed by the State Hospital Administration and Office of Recipient Rights," department spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin said in a statement. "As a result, one employee was dismissed, one resigned before they could be dismissed, and another was suspended and has returned to work."

The lawsuit comes a couple months after the Farmington mother of the boy injured in the attack sued the state, seeking $100 million based on allegations that staff members were reckless and negligent in allowing the attack.

That suit alleged the boy had been receiving psychiatric treatment for about a month when another patient chased him and stomped on his head for several seconds. Video of the attack shows an employee opening the door separating the two and, just minutes before the attack, the video also showed employees stomping on the boy's fingers as he stuck them under a locked door.

The video showed the boy, after the attack, trying to pull himself up but instead falling to the ground.

The boy's lawsuit claims he was 9 at the time; the girl's lawsuit claims he was 10.

The Hawthorn Center was sued last year by employees and families of children housed there in connection with an unannounced active shooter drill that left them traumatized.

Staff Writer Kara Berg contributed to this report.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com