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No Jail Time For Former Southbury Workers Over Choking Death Charges
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
January 17, 2007

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT--Three former Southbury Training School have avoided jail time by pleading no contest to criminal charges related to the death of a resident who died while choking on food when they left her alone in a parking lot.

Kimberly Rivnack and Barbara Williams were originally charged with second-degree manslaughter charges related to the June 11, 2005 choking death of Rosemary Hicock. They and fellow Southbury staff member Evelyn Mensah were also charged with first-degree reckless endangerment.

In a plea agreement on January 10, all three pleaded no contest to lesser charges of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment in exchange for suspended sentences and probation.

Prosecutors claimed that, instead of taking Hicock, 52, to a nearby Special Olympics event, Rivnack drove a vehicle carrying Hicock to a shopping mall, while Williams and Mensah followed with a van carrying five other institution residents. Once there, Rivnack reportedly left Hicock alone and went into a T.J. Maxx store for "a long time". Hicock, who was not supposed to be left alone, and was not supposed to eat uncut food, started eating a hamburger Rivnack had left in the car.

Sitting in the van, Williams and Mensah saw Hicock flailing about in the car, apparently trying to get their attention as she choked on her food. Instead of trying to help Hicock or calling 9-1-1, the two went into the store to get Rivnack. By the time they returned, it was too late to rescue or revive Hicock.

Early in the investigation, the three told police that they were on their way to the Special Olympics event, and turned into the parking lot only after Hicock started choking. Later, Mensah confessed to police that Rivnack stopped at the mall so she could go shopping before Hicock started eating.

"It comes down to all three of you not telling the truth from the beginning," said Judge Richard A. Damiani as he accepted their pleas last week. "That's why we're here today."

Southbury, which houses more than 500 people with developmental disabilities, was released from federal oversight last March after nearly 10 years of monitoring. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Connecticut in 1985 over unsafe conditions and practices that put at risk the safety and health of residents with developmental disabilities at the state-run institution.

Supporters of community-based services have been advocating for several years for Southbury's closure.

Related:
"Ex-Caregivers Given Plea Deals" (Hartford Courant)

http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0117c.htm
"Southbury Training School" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/institutions/ct/southbury.htm

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