3 acquitted in death of teen at treatment center

February 10, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

CLEVELAND (AP) — A jury on Tuesday acquitted three former employees of an Ohio treatment center for troubled teens of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a 17-year-old girl who suffocated and choked on her own vomit after being restrained face down on the floor.

Cynthia King, Lazarita Menendez and Ebony Ray also were found innocent of child endangering in the December 2008 death of Faith Finley. Menendez also was found innocent of felonious assault and inciting to violence.

Menendez faced additional charges because she initiated the incident by taking Finley’s CD player, which the disruptive 17-year-old used to calm herself, and shoved the girl’s hand under her as she lay on the floor, prosecutors said.

The women, who pleaded innocent, were fired from the Parmadale Family Services center after Finley’s death. The Cuyahoga County coroner ruled Finley’s death a homicide.

The type of restraint prosecutors say the women used was later banned by Gov. Ted Strickland at the recommendation of state agencies that said the technique carries a high risk of serious injury or death.

Ray, of Broadview Heights, and Menendez, of Bedford Heights, were accused of wrestling Finley to the ground on her chest and applying pressure to her back — a technique known as prone restraint — while King watched.

Assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Maureen Clancy said King told the other two women to leave after Finley calmed down. King, of Warrensville Heights, dozed off in a nearby chair as Finley lay on a tile floor, and she checked on the girl about two hours later when another youth alerted her, the prosecutor said.