The father of a 25-year-old youth counselor allegedly beaten to death a year ago by seven teenage residents at a Windsor Hills group home claims in a lawsuit that Los Angeles County officials knew of staffing deficiencies and violence at the troubled facility but declined to act.
David Hillman III filed the lawsuit last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of his son, David McKnight-Hillman, who had been training for only 10 days at Wayfinder Family Services when he was fatally attacked on Jan. 2, 2021.
The lawsuit names Wayfinder along with former Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services Director Bobby D. Cagle and several DCFS officials as defendants. Hillman is seeking unspecified damages for alleged wrongful death and civil rights violations.
“David McKnight-Hillman’s death occurred after years of reports of violence, assaults, and substandard care, due to Wayfinder’s inability to handle the severe mental, behavioral, and emotional challenges of the youth in the facility,” the suit says.
Wayfinder officials denied the allegations outlined in the 60-page lawsuit.
“For nearly 70 years, Wayfinder has provided supportive services to children and adults facing challenges due to visual impairment and developmental disabilities, and to youth who have been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect,” officials said in a statement Tuesday, Jan. 25. “The death of David McKnight-Hillman is a tragedy that devastated all of us. While a shocking loss, we believe the complaint is without merit.”
DCFS officials declined to comment on the suit. “The child welfare community continues to mourn the death of youth counselor David McKnight-Hillman, whose life should be honored for his work with children and youth in foster care,” they said in a statement Tuesday. “On a daily basis, child welfare professionals face a number of challenges that include working with youth in need of intensive mental health services due to histories of abuse and neglect.”
Reports of violence, inadequate training
The lawsuit alleges Wayfinder’s management and DCFS failed to maintain appropriate staffing levels and provide adequate training while under-reporting violence at the group home, which is located in the unincorporated Windsor Hills area east of Culver City.
McKnight-Hillman was killed when he and other Wayfinder staff members attempted to restrain a resident and were subsequently attacked by seven other residents, the lawsuit says.
Two adult residents, Nyier Mason and Keith Lewis, both 19, were charged with murder.
In July, the case against Lewis was dismissed after a lengthy review of the evidence, according to Greg Risling, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Meanwhile, Mason pleaded no contest in August to assault by means of force to likely cause great bodily injury. “He received a three-year suspended prison sentence and was placed on probation, Risling said.
Four boys, ages 16 and 17, were charged with one count of murder in Juvenile Court and are scheduled to have a hearing in March.
Police calls to facility
According to the lawsuit, DCFS officials were fully aware the Wayfinder group home was not equipped to operate as a short-term therapeutic facility but nevertheless continued to accept residents with extensive histories of violence, gang affiliation, criminality, and severe substance abuse.
The complaint also alleges that over the years there have been hundreds of reports of unsupervised children going missing from Wayfinder and then roaming streets for hours.
More than 1,000 calls for service were made to law enforcement originating from Wayfinder from January 2019 through May 2020, placing an inordinate burden on the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Marina del Rey station, the lawsuit says.
Law enforcement responded to Wayfinder on May 16, 2020, when a group of residents under the influence of an unknown substance allegedly vandalized the facility, broke into cars and assaulted a staff member.
Then on Dec. 3, 2020, four Wayfinder staff members allegedly were stabbed by several residents who had consumed drugs and alcohol at the facility.
Wayfinder’s failure to properly train McKnight-Hillman and inform him of the residents’ propensity for violence put him at significant risk, the suit says.
“Prior to David McKnight-Hillman’s death, several of the residents had a significant juvenile history of violence,” the suit states. “Despite many of their violent criminal acts, the county placed them at an inadequate facility.”