Wrongful Death at Illinois Group Home Prompts Lawsuit
The death of a developmentally disabled man at a Streator, Illinois nursing home has prompted a lawsuit against the facility's owner and two employees.
Twenty-one year-old Dustin Higgins died September 1, 2008 at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Illinois after sustaining a head injury a few days earlier at Graywood Foundation group home where he was a resident. Reportedly, two former employees of the facility kicked and punched Higgins and encouraged two facility residents to help them beat Higgins because they believed the young man was a thief. The employees, Daniel J. Clark and Christopher P. Oliver, are facing first-degree murder charges in that case. The residents who assisted them in the beating pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and were sentenced to an Illinois Department of Human Services facility while they are on conditional discharge for two-and-a-half years.
The wrongful death lawsuit against the facility owner, The Graywood Foundation, Clark, and Oliver was filed on August 10, 2010 in Coles County and asks for damages in excess of $50,000 plus legal fees.
