Faith Finley’s death at Parmadale Family Services

Faith Finley’s death at Parmadale Family Services while being restrained has not led to charges nearly 8 months later

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Rachel Dissell
Plain Dealer Reporter

Pictures taken by the Cuyahoga County coroner’s office show Faith Finley’s body sprawled on grungy linoleum at Parmadale Family Services, her baby-blue hooded sweatshirt dappled with vomit.

The photos show Faith’s face, her eyes still slightly open, the skin of her hand already turning blue.

Those pictures of Faith’s body were taken in December after she died while being restrained by the center’s staff.

Nearly eight months later, Faith’s family is waiting to find out if anyone is going to be held responsible for the 17-year-old’s death, which the coroner ruled a homicide.

A Parma police investigation was finished months ago and turned over to county prosecutors.

The coroner’s investigation, also completed, raised questions about the version of events given by Parmadale staff. So did a sworn statement by a 12-year-old witness who apparently was not, at least initially, questioned by authorities.

“They have had plenty of time to investigate,” said Jill Flagg, attorney for Faith’s mother. “As a lawyer who practices criminal law on a regular basis, I believe there is evidence of wrongdoing that the prosecutor should present to a grand jury.”

Prosecutor’s office spokesman Ryan Miday said the Finley case is very complex.

“This office takes all homicide cases seriously,” Miday said Monday in an e-mail. “A team of experienced homicide prosecutors has been independently reviewing this matter. That review is nearing its completion.”

Antionette Finley, Faith’s mother, is demanding answers and wants prosecutors to explain to her what is going on.

They have not returned calls to her or her lawyer.

“Something must be done,” Finley said. “I just feel like they are ignoring Faith’s death, like she was nothing more than an ant squashed under someone’s shoe.”

A coroner’s report, completed shortly after Faith died, noted that members of the Parmadale staff were giving inconsistent stories about how and when Faith stopped breathing.

Coroner’s investigators would not even pinpoint when Faith was last seen alive.

Parmadale staff told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that Faith had been breathing shallowly for about 20 minutes before becoming unresponsive.

An ambulance arrived within minutes of the call.

But emergency workers noted Faith was already cold to the touch when they arrived, according to the coroner investigator’s report, which included the photos.

Stories about how Faith was restrained before dying also differ. Staff told the coroner’s office that they held Faith down by her legs, arms and shoulders.

Coroner Frank Miller ruled in January that Faith died from “near traumatic asphyxia,” which means there was compression on her abdomen and that she also choked on her vomit while being restrained.

At least one youth, who was a roommate of Faith’s, said staff sat on Faith’s stomach, chest and legs, according to a transcript of a sworn interview between the 12-year-old and an attorney hired by Faith’s mother.

Flagg said in January or February she sent a transcript of her interview with the girl to Parma police and the prosecutor’s office when she found out they had not questioned the child.

The girl told her that Parmadale staff ushered them into a recreation room and closed the door when police arrived. Flagg does not know if anyone ever contacted or interviewed the girl after she sent her interview to police and prosecutors.

Flagg said she independently sought out accounts of what happened the day Faith died, while researching for a civil lawsuit against Parmadale and the parties involved. Parmadale is run by Catholic Charities.

According to a transcript of the 12-year-old’s interview, the confrontation between Faith and Parmadale workers began after they took a CD player away from Faith and she swore at one of the workers.

The girl, who was upset and crying during the interview, said Faith was telling the staff who were restraining her that she couldn’t breathe. One of the workers told Faith to “shut up because if she couldn’t breathe she wouldn’t be talking,” the girl said.

The child, who said she was watching in the hallway, said Faith told them seven to eight more times that she could not breathe. And after a little bit, she got quiet, stopped talking.

The girl said the staff then ushered the girls who had been nearby downstairs. The girl said that about 20 or 30 minutes later, she went upstairs to use the bathroom and saw Faith still on the floor.

“But this time her lips were blue,” the girl said, and a staff member was dozing in a nearby chair.

She said another Parmadale resident came upstairs and started screaming for a nurse when she saw Faith.

Parmadale later fired three workers involved in the restraint.

Tears dampen Antionette Finley’s eyes when she sorts through photos of her daughter — the coroner’s pictures along with pictures of Faith and her twin sister, Jordan, as impish toddlers making faces at each other, dressed up in matching Halloween costumes and later as teens.

She said it is for Jordan that she needs to find out why no one has been punished. “I can’t help but think that if Faith had blond hair and blue eyes . . . that something would have been done about it by now,” Finley said.

This past Sunday, the Finleys spent what was supposed to be a blowout celebration of the twins’ 18th birthday at a cemetery in Warren. They brought a birthday cake, Faith’s favorite stuffed poodle, named Fifi, and a pair of cowboy boots stitched with pink flowers that Faith adored.

“All I want is for the women who did this to have some sort of consequence,” Finley said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

rdissell@plaind.com, 216-999-4121

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