An Oakland County Circuit Court judge on Aug. 5 refused to dismiss charges against the operations manager of the hyperbaric chamber therapy center where a 5-year-old boy undergoing treatment for ADHD was burned alive last year.
Judge Kwame Rowe refused to grant the motion made by attorney Todd Flood on behalf of defendant Gary Marken.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has charged Marken, of Spring Arbor, with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Thomas Cooper at the Oxford Center in Troy.
She also charged center CEO Tamela Peterson, of Brighton, and its safety director Jeffrey Mosteller, of Clinton Township, with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in Thomas’ death.
Aleta Harward Moffitt, of Rochester Hills, who operated the chamber Cooper used when he died, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information on a medical record
Mosteller has since pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in exchange for prosecutors dropping the second-degree murder charge against him. He is to be sentenced Aug. 31 and faces up to 15 years in prison.
Peterson’s motion to dismiss the charges against her was denied.
Flood argued that the district court judge abused her discretion by ordering Marken to stand trial in circuit court. He said Marken was a janitor who had no authority over safety procedures regarding use of the hyperbaric chamber.
“This idea that he was just a janitor is wrong,” said Chris Kessel, assistant attorney general for Michigan. He pointed to testimony from the district court hearing that indicated Marken had trained a colleague as a hyperbaric technician.
Cooper was undergoing his 36th treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea at Oxford Center when authorities say a spark of static electricity triggered a fire, engulfing Cooper in flames while his mother, unable to get him out, stood by and watched him burn to death.
A grounding strap wrapped around Cooper’s wrist could have diverted the static electricity, according to testimony from a hyperbarics expert.
But authorities have said Cooper was not wearing such a grounding strap.
Flood said he will appeal Rowe’s decision.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge refuses to dismiss case against hyperbaric operations manager
Reporting by Georgea Kovanis, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Georgea Kovanis, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
