The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice has settled with the parents of a Douglas teen who died as a result of injuries sustained during an alleged RYDC guard-sanctioned fight game at the facility. The incident happened on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. A guard allegedly pitted the teen, Loyce Tucker, 17, of Douglas, against another resident of the facility in a fight. During the fight, Tucker sustained injuries that caused him to lose consciousness. He never woke up and, two days later, died as a result of his injuries.
The guard, Thomas Lee Hicks Sr., then 30, was arrested and charged with one count of murder in the 2nd degree, two counts of cruelty to children in the 2nd degree, and one count of violation of oath of office on August 16, 2022. On August 18, 2022, GBI officials released a one-sentence statement that reads as follows: “A juvenile complaint for involuntary manslaughter has been secured for the juvenile involved in the fight that resulted in the death of another juvenile on August 9, 2022.”
The law firm of Savage, Turner, Pinckney, Savage, Sprouse & Gilluly represented the family and announced the verdict Thursday. According to the firm’s announcement, the state agreed to pay $4.5 million to Tucker’s parents for the wrongful death.
“It goes without saying, but needs to be said, that no amount of money is enough to replace the precious life of this young man. But change is necessary. By forcing a defendant to pay out of pocket, the law deters the wrongdoer from repeating the same behavior. In this case, the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice was a wrongdoer. The system failed this child and many others,” states the announcement.
The firm released the complaint and it states that Hicks, a juvenile correctional sergeant at the RYDC, organized and encouraged the fight game between two juveniles. To hide from the cameras, Hicks unlocked a closet and entered it with the boys. The boys fought in the closet. During the fight, a juvenile inmate forcefully struck the victim inmate in the neck, which caused the victim to lose consciousness and fall to the ground. Instead of immediately rendering medical attention, or seeking medical attention, the guard and other juveniles carried the unconscious body from the closet into the shower where the guard splashed water on the victim and slapped him in the face, in an effort to “wake him up,” the complaint states.
The victim never woke up and ultimately died from a vertebral artery dissection.
According to the announcement, this fight game was not the first. The ensuing investigation revealed that
DouglasNow.com file photo
Hicks and other correctional officers at the RYDC had arranged, permitted, and encouraged juvenile inmates to fight one another on multiple occasions before the fight at issue. Some guards referred to the fight game simply as horseplay. Instead of providing these children with “specialized services designed to equip [the kids] with the social, intellectual, and emotional tools they will need as adults,” as promised in the DOJJ mission statement, employees exploited the kids by using them as a form of entertainment, the announcement states.
This matter was civilly prosecuted by Brent Savage, Jr. and Greg Gilluly.
