No Charges Against Summit Quest Following Death of Giovanni Aletriz

Teen's death: no charges
DA says restraining of boy at Ephrata psychiatric facility followed state regulations. But advisory group says rules should be changed — and the state is moving in that direction.

By Cindy Stauffer

Lancaster New Era

March 31, 2006

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - No charges will be filed in the case of a teen who died last month while being restrained at the SummitQuest Academy, a juvenile psychiatric residential facility in Ephrata.

Lancaster County District Attorney Donald Totaro said today that an autopsy showed that Giovanni Aletriz, 16, of Allentown, had an undiagnosed heart condition that could have contributed to his death while he was being restrained. SummitQuest officials were not aware of the problem, he said.

“Although some may legitimately question the wisdom of using manual retraints on children, the evidence shows that these procedures were approved by the Department of Public Welfare and they were followed by employees of SummitQuest,” Totaro said in a press release issued today.

“Consequently, there is no criminal conduct that would warrant the filing of criminal charges,” Totaro said.

In the meantime, the state Department of Public Welfare has placed SummitQuest on a six-month provisional license due to “significant health and safety concerns for the kids at the facility,” said Stacey Ward, a DPW spokeswoman.

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Teen's death: no charges DA says restraining of boy at Ephrata psychiatric facility followed state regulations. But advisory group says rules should be changed — and the state is moving in that direction.

Teen's death: no charges
DA says restraining of boy at Ephrata psychiatric facility followed state regulations. But advisory group says rules should be changed — and the state is moving in that direction.