State won't discipline workers in fatal beating of patient

FORT WAYNE -- The state will not discipline five employees of the Fort Wayne State Developmental Center over the fatal beating of a patient, a report Sunday said.\nSuperintendent Dean Mohnke said the center conducted an internal investigation to determine whether any disciplinary action was warranted.\n"Of the active folks, we determined that none of them could be held culpable for disciplinary action," he told The Journal Gazette.\nJohn Reed II, 38, a patient at the center for 16 years, died June 9, 2002, from a torn pancreas, ruptured intestines, a punctured lung, broken ribs and other internal injuries.\nOfficials have said Reed was sometimes combative with staff and other residents, so he received one-on-one, 24-hour care.\nAllen County Prosecutor Karen Richards said she has not yet determined if criminal charges should be filed against any employees in the death, which was ruled a homicide.\nThe internal report recommended two employees who had been suspended without pay after Reed's death, Debra Hutsell and Ed Ayers, should return to work after more training. Together they also received about $38,000 in back pay, the newspaper said.\nThree other employees who had been reassigned have been allowed to return to their original duties.\nThe state report was unclear about the involvement of two former employees who quit after the investigation began, the newspaper reported. Former center supervisor Anthony Walker resigned after Reed's death as did Michael Brown Jr., a caregiver who found the injured patient the morning he died.\nBrown and Walker said they don't know for sure what happened to Reed.\n"I was his buddy. He was mine," Walker, 38, said of Reed. "It took a while, but we had built up a rapport. We were getting pretty close."\nBrown, 27, said he resigned because he found a better job. He said he has cooperated with police in their investigation of the death.\n"The staff out there has a bad reputation, but there are really only a few bad apples," Brown said. "It wasn't like we were all out there beating the residents."\nThe center houses about 300 people with mental disabilities.