Investigators are checking whether the restraint was applied improperly, preventing Leach from breathing. He was pronounced dead the next day in a Nashville hospital, about 15 hours after the confrontation.
"There's no doubt that the kid had an attitude and probably needed to be locked up somewhere," said Sgt. Brian Prentice, of the Montgomery County, Tenn., Sheriff's Office. "It doesn't mean he has to be dead."
Leach's death was one more lost life on DHS's watch. As with other Philadelphia youths committed to such centers, his care was DHS's responsibility. The agency was paying Chad $285 a day for his treatment.
Questions have been raised about the center before. In 2005, a 14-year-old Long Island girl died there of heart failure as she was being escorted by a counselor.
Although Chad staff was not blamed in her death, Tennessee officials quit placing teenagers there. New York did, too.
But not Philadelphia.
On DHS's recommendation, judges and social workers continued to send children to Chad, even though the agency's own reports consistently criticized its performance, an Inquirer review shows.
After the newspaper began asking questions about Chad and the two deaths last week, officials in Philadelphia and Tennessee began to take action:
Tennessee's child-welfare agency banned new placements at Chad and said it would force the facility to improve restraint procedures.
Philadelphia's DHS also froze admissions to Chad. The department said it was putting into place "a contingency plan" for relocating 45 city children still at Chad, pending further investigation. Some of the children are delinquents. Others had been neglected or abused.
A Philadelphia judge criticized DHS harshly for failing to inform the courts of the 2005 death and said he would insist on better communication.
"It's disturbing to the point that it's unacceptable," said Kevin Dougherty, administrative judge of Philadelphia Family Court.
