Kendrick JohnsonSAVANNAH, Ga. — The parents of a Georgia teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat two years ago filed a lawsuit accusing classmates of killing him at school before criminal investigators and school officials covered up the deed.
The wrongful death lawsuit by the family of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson of Valdosta names 38 defendants, including three Lowndes High School classmates the lawsuit accuses of attacking Johnson on Jan. 10, 2013. The suit was filed in DeKalb County Superior Court on Monday, just after the second anniversary of the teenager’s death.
Lowndes County sheriff’s investigators concluded long ago that Johnson died in a freak accident, saying he became stuck upside down while trying to retrieve a gym shoe that fell into the upright mat. His parents, Kenneth and Jacquelyn Johnson, insist their son was slain. The lawsuit names specific students and one parent blamed for the teenager’s death by his family, who are seeking $100 million in damages. However, no one has been charged with a crime in the case.
The lawsuit also says Johnson’s slaying was covered up in a conspiracy involving the local school superintendent, the Valdosta police chief, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, five GBI agents, 17 sheriff’s investigators and deputies, the state medical examiner who conducted the autopsy and others.
“Defendants from the various law enforcement agencies deliberately and maliciously mishandled the subject investigation in such a way that anyone who might ever be charged with (Johnson’s) death would never be convicted,” the lawsuit says.