A photo of Joseph Winters taken several years ago.
When a 14-year-old boy with autism checked into the Rose Rock treatment facility on Friday, his family had no idea they not would not see him alive again, Channel News 4 reports.
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The full details about how Joseph Winters died are not known. His mother dropped him off at the facility so that he could work with autism specialists. The family was told that he may have needed to be restrained by staffers at some point on Friday. During the time the teen was restrained, he stopped breathing. Joseph’s brother, Darryl, says that the staff mishandled the situation.
“He’s an autistic kid,” he said. “How can you do that to a kid? Period. He’s a 14-year-old kid. And you’re slamming him and strain him like that. And he’s grasping for air and yall just sit there and say oh he’s faking it. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
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The Medical Examiner’s office has not determined a cause of death. He was 6-foot-2 and weighed 300 pounds. Rock Rose is a private facility but the DHS Licensing Unit conducted an investigation of the facility, supervision, staffing and training. No non-compliance issues under those categories were found.
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