A mother who says her son was forced to participate in fights organized by employees of a Corpus Christi institution for people with mental disabilities is suing the state.
In a lawsuit filed in Nueces County against the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, Inez Hernandez says that her son, Armando Hernandez, 21, lived at Corpus Christi State School from April 2007 to April 2008, where he “sustained serious personal injuries, including severe humiliation, degradation and mental anguish.”
The lawsuit alleges that the department neglected to properly supervise employees and failed to provide immediate medical attention to Armando Hernandez.
“These special-needs residents are some of the most vulnerable and fragile members of our community,” Robert Hilliard, a lawyer for Inez Hernandez, said in a statement. “To think that the protectors of their welfare were turning them into tools for their own sick entertainment makes my blood boil. I put this at the feet of the agency itself, an agency that, time and time again, throughout this state has allowed systematic abuse of every kind to go mostly unchecked.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Aging and Disability Services said she was not familiar with the lawsuit.
The Nueces County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against six former employees of state school after Corpus Christi police obtained a cell phone earlier this month showing videos of workers organizing fights among residents. Gov. Rick Perry has suspended admissions at the institution.
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