Isaiah Simmons III, age 17, died January 23, 2007 after being restrained at Bowling Brook Prepatory School in Maryland. Isaiah's mother and daughter.

The FBI is looking into possible civil rights violations in connection with the death of a teenager at a residential juvenile treatment school in Carroll County.

The FBI says it began monitoring the circumstances of 17-year-old Isaiah Simmons' death shortly after it occurred in January and recently opened a "full-blown" civil rights investigation.

Simmons died after a struggle with staff at the Bowling Brook Preparatory Academy in Keymar. The death has resulted in the school's pending closure.

The state medical examiner's office Monday ruled the death a homicide. Although the autopsy did not find obvious external injuries, it concluded "that Simmons died from sudden death during restraint." Prosecutors in Carroll County stress that the finding does not necessarily mean a crime was committed.