CLEVELAND — The FOX 8 I TEAM has obtained exclusive video showing what investigators believe was a detention officer splashing urine on a teen inside the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center.
A supervisor there now has been fired, 13 other workers have been on leave with pay under internal investigation, and the county is conducting a criminal investigation.
In July, the I TEAM first reported the probe. A mother disgusted when she received an anonymous call telling her a staff member in the juvenile lock-up had thrown urine on her 16-year-old son.
Now, juvenile court says it has fired a supervisor, Garth Beckles.
Reports and video show detention officers gathered for a staff meeting. They set up a table with milk cartons and an inflatable baby pool behind it. They brought in the teen and sat him down at the table. Then one of the officers can be seen throwing a liquid onto the teen from a carton.
Investigators believe the liquid was urine since the teen said it looked and smelled like that. Plus, the officer later can be seen scrubbing the table where the teen had been sitting. And, investigators wondered why the workers would have an inflatable pool there if the carton of liquid only held water.
In a statement to investigators, Beckles claimed it was a “carton of water.” He said there was “…no intent to cause…harm.” “It was to clear the air…”
Records show the teen inmate had been called into that staff meeting because, days earlier, he had thrown urine in the face of an officer.
We went to an address for Beckles and got no answer. Records also say he did not show up for a hearing on his discipline before he was fired.
The investigation found Beckles “clearly orchestrated the entire incident.”
The teen’s mother is waiting for the rest of the investigation. She says her son still faces the charges that put him in the detention center, but she says he is now at another facility.
