Background: Elbert Shaw Regional Youth Detention Center in Dalton, Georgia (WTVC/YouTube). Inset: Alexis Marie Sluder (Bernhardt Funeral Home).
A 16-year-old runaway died after overdosing on methamphetamine in a youth detention center in Georgia hours after she was arrested, and authorities did nothing as they watched her convulse, writhe in pain and cry for help until it was too late, her family alleges in a lawsuit filed this week.
Alexis Marie Sluder died in 2022 at the Elbert Shaw Regional Youth Detention Center in Dalton, according to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a federal court in Georgia. Dalton is about 90 miles north of Atlanta.
“Instead of monitoring her health and safety, they watched her die,” said Sam Harton, the family’s lawyer, in a news conference . “No one even picked up the phone to call 911 until after Alexis stopped breathing.”
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The lawsuit names five Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice employees as defendants, including an officer, a cadet, a sergeant, a nurse, and the facility’s director. It also names Augusta University, the medical and mental health services provider for juvenile detainees at the facility.