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We say their names of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, and many other victims to remember and memorialize the lives lost to the terror of racism, excessive force, and rank injustice. We say their names to demand justice, changes in policy and for fairness and equality. On January 21, I was proud to be part of a team of lawyers, including Ben Crump, Natalie Jackson and Aaron Karger, who stand for another portion of our human family that is frequently shunted aside and placed in dark corners outside of our communities. Residents with intellectual or developmental disabilities who live in group homes. Caleb Walker was 27 years old his life was smothered out of him by a person who was paid to be his caretaker, by a system that knows of the abuses and the lack of funding but does nothing to fix the problem.
Caleb, an Autistic young man who lived with an intellectual disability, was killed at Oconee Group Home, a residential group home. Caleb died by asphyxiation when staff from the group home improperly employed a behavioral restraint on him.
Many times, individuals with autism are required to get the services they need at group homes, and frequently these group homes are underfunded and understaffed. Other cases that have involved the death of individuals at group homes have been made barely visible to the public; those individuals of whom many times die a nameless resident. But their lives and Caleb’s life, mattered. Caleb’s family, his mother and father Sara and Tom, and his sisters and brothers, were all very close. Because of Caleb’s disability and his intensive behavioral needs, his parents could no longer care for him in his home with the services that were needed, so they were told that he needed to go to a Florida facility that could adequately meet his needs.
For several years, Caleb lived at Carlton Palms, a large, institutionalized setting in Florida for persons with developmental disabilities. In 2018, when Carlton Palms went into a receivership for many abuses at its facilities, its state-appointed receiver, Dr. Craig Cook, transferred many residents into his own facilities, including Caleb, and along with Caleb, the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the State of Florida paid for the level of care that he required. For each of the four residents of the group home, the State of Florida paid for one resident to one caregiver ratio at night, and more staffing during the day.
Tom and Sara would visit Caleb every Sunday at Defendant Dr. Cooks’ Oconee Group home where Caleb was a resident to see Caleb and bring him food and treats and took him on frequent outings. Beginning in 2020, Sara and Tom began noticing injuries to Caleb, and made complaints to the management of the group home and to the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. This included a black eye and a bruise on his stomach.
On the morning that Caleb was killed -- November 25, 2020, there were only two persons on the overnight shift at the Oconee Group Home that night-- not one for each resident. Caleb died at 5:30 in the morning when a staff member at the group home improperly restrained Caleb in response to his belief that Caleb was being aggressive. Caleb was thrown to the ground by his neck and onto his face and held there for several minutes, at which time extreme pressure was placed on his back by the staff member. After some time, the other staff member came into Caleb’s room where he was being pinned to the ground. Caleb pinned from his back for 15-20 minutes while Caleb screamed; which, because of his disability, he could not say, “I can’t breathe.”
Caleb died when he had the breath and eventually life pushed out of him. Unbelievably, this wasn’t the first time. On November 20, 2020, just five (days before the death of Caleb, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities essentially dismissed their claim against a different group home of Dr. Craig Cook for the use of the same type of restraint on a resident. The resident was Arnaldo Rios-Soto, who’s caretaker was a victim of a shooting in North Miami back in 2016.
Caleb did not have to die; the circumstances that surrounded his death were preventable.
1. Group homes should be adequately staffed with trained professionals so restraints are relied on at a minimum and can be properly done without possibility of death.
2. The Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities must ensure there is full transparency for a family to make a knowledgeable decision when to place a loved one in a group home, which includes publishing investigations and findings against group homes,
3. When a group home relies on the constant use of physical restrain to control behavior, the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities must reevaluate the care plan for all residents to ensure that the group home is adequately staffed with qualified employees.
Caleb’s parents would like justice for their son, as well as to ensure that widespread change is brought to the system. To ensure that the State of Florida cannot funnel money to group homes without accountability, transparency, and constant monitoring to ensure that a human life cannot die a nameless resident at a group home to another tragedy. Abuse of individuals at residential group homes and living facilities is an urgent public health problem that impacts thousands of women and men each year These lives cannot be forgotten, we must remember their names and their stories. We must ensure that appropriate in home or out of home services are provided to our Autistic sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers.
This man was not nameless or invisible, he had a name; he had a family and his life mattered.
This man’s name was Caleb Walker, and he was 27 years old when he was killed.
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