Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has uncovered details regarding the medical records of Alegend Jones, the Black girl who died following an incident at a group home in Memphis Tenn. Those details put to question the facility’s claim that no violence was inflicted on the teen.
Last month, Jones was rushed to the hospital from the Bartlett campus of Youth Villages. Her family claims she’d later die from a brutal beating by nearly 12 staff members. She was only 17. Following her death, the facility released a statement denying any foul play was involved in her death, per The Commercial Appeal. However, in a press conference Thursday, Crump read off her medical records; the details of her injuries seeem to contradict the facility’s claim.
Read more from ABC 24 News:
Crump said Jones was assaulted, battered, and choked. He presented medical records, claiming Jones experienced brain compression, among other injuries like cerebral edema and rhabdomyolysis, which is a rare condition often seen in people who have suffered major injuries or trauma, though the condition can also have other causes.
That’s not all the evidence. There’s surveillance camera footage of the teen allegedly getting jumped in the facility hallway. Jones’ mother, Shauna Garner White, who is also a Bartlett Police officer, said she had an opportunity to view the footage and called it disturbing. Crump called on the group home to release the footage publicly.
“We don’t have to depend on witnesses; we got video. We got video. This ain’t nothing hard to figure out. Show the video, show what the counselors and actions were with this child, and you pair it with the medical records and you will know absolutely what caused her death,” Crump said in the conference.
According to officials at Youth Villages, confidentiality concerns prevents them from sharing the footage publicly but officials confirmed evidence has been shared with the authorities. Still, they insist the claims their facility fosters a violent and hostile environment are completely false.
“We are fully cooperating with the official investigations. Many of the other claims being made continue to be false and inaccurate,’’ according to a statement. “ We reiterate the following from previous statements: There were no abusive or otherwise inappropriate interactions directed toward the young person,.’’