18 months later, why is the Montravious Thomas case still open?

It’s been 18 months since a contracted behavior specialist allegedly body-slammed a Muscogee County School District student five times and left the 13-year-old boy with an injured leg that was amputated below the knee a month later. And the Columbus Police Department’s investigation into the controversial case remains open.

Why?

“We don’t know why the case is still open,” Renee Tucker, one of the lawyers representing the student, Montravious Thomas, told the Ledger-Enquirer in a phone interview Wednesday, “so we’re just as shocked as your readers are.”

Tucker, who has been practicing law for 17 years, said she has never seen a case with video evidence take this long to close.

“This is a first,” she said. “I don’t understand.”

Columbus police chief Ricky Boren hasn’t responded to the Ledger-Enquirer’s query, an emailed request for an interview last week and two phone messages this week.

One year ago in March, Montravious’ mother, Lawanda Thomas, sued the school district and seven other defendants in state court, seeking $25 million in damages and costs. The Ledger-Enquirer reported two months later the MCSD administration’s response to the lawsuit.

Another pending legal action from the Sept. 12, 2016, incident at the alternative school in the Edgewood Student Services Center is the federal lawsuit against MCSD filed Sept. 8, 2017, by Eddie Powell, who was the assistant principal at Edgewood but in charge that day while the principal was absent. Powell alleges racial discrimination, retaliation for having complained about racial discrimination, and a violation of the Georgia Whistleblower Protection Act after he leaked the surveillance video that shows behavior specialist Bryant Mosley carrying Montravious to the bus, although it doesn’t show any moments in the classroom.

Citing privacy laws, MCSD has refused the Ledger-Enquirer’s request to release the classroom video.

In January, the Ledger-Enquirer filed a lawsuit demanding the Muscogee County School District release the classroom surveillance video. The case is pending in Muscogee County Superior Court.

Asked whether she has been in contact with the CPD, Tucker said, “Not really, only because there’s not a whole lot they can tell us because the case is still open. We’re not in a position to state why the case is still open. They have everything that they need in order to make a decision as it relates to any criminal charges and what they intend to do. We don’t see any basis for the case to still be open.”

Asked why, Tucker said, “The video is sufficient. The issue, at the end of the day, what they’re considering from a criminal standpoint, is the conduct of the actors involved. ... Regardless of any statements from anybody who was in the room, none of that should make a difference when you have a video that demonstrates the conduct at issue. So words don’t change the physical conduct demonstrated in those videos. In our opinion, they have sufficient evidence to be able to make a decision one way or another.”

Tucker declined to say what she thinks would be a just decision by the police. The police haven’t interviewed Montravious, she said, “because we have not allowed him to be interviewed. … To me, you have all the information you need memorialized in video footage. There is no need for him to give a statement.”

Columbus police Lt. Consuelo Askew, who was working as a part-time security officer at Edgewood the day Montravious was injured, has been leading CPD’s investigation of the case. Tucker said Askew could have but didn’t interview Montravious at the school that day.

“If she wanted to speak to Montravious, she had every opportunity to do so on September 12, 2016, when she went to his room,” Tucker said.

Asked whether not allowing the police to interview Montravious could be preventing the criminal investigation from being closed, Tucker said, “I don’t know if that’s their reason. But, at the end of the day, he is not going to give a statement to them. The lead investigator had an opportunity to speak with Montravious. In our opinion, there is nothing he can say to her that will alter the images that are captured on video.”

As for the status of the civil case, Tucker said, “The parties are still cooperating to conduct discovery.” One deposition has been taken, she said, although she declined to say who has been or will be deposed.

Montravious, now 15, isn’t living in Columbus anymore, Tucker said, and is “dealing with” his prosthetic leg. She declined to give more details about him.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 6:27 PM with the headline "18 months later, why is the Montravious Thomas case still open?."