KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The three former Lakeside Academy staffers charged in the death of Cornelius Fredericks have all turned themselves into authorities this week and have been arraigned at the Kalamazoo County Courthouse.
Zachary Solis was arraigned Tuesday.
Michael Moseley and Heather McLogan were arraigned the following day.
All three have been officially charged with homicide manslaughter involuntary and 2nd degree child abuse.
McLogan’s attorney Tase Markou, of Levine and Levine in Kalamazoo, believe she will be found innocent of the charges. However, this has been a difficult time for her and her family, he said.
“Now that she’s been charged and they have to actually deal with the criminal justice system, it feels very much like things are out of control and that she’s being judged criminal when she hasn’t done anything wrong,” Markou said during an interview with FOX 17 on Wednesday. “It’s a very difficult position for she and her family to be in, especially when she’s dedicated more than 12 years of her life to at-risk children.”
According to the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor’s office, Fredericks was restrained on April 29. They said both Moseley and Solis sat on his chest. When police arrived, they found him in cardiac arrest. On May 1, he died in the hospital.
Fredericks' family has since filed a civil lawsuit against Lakeside Academy, claiming that he died in a manner similar to George Floyd.
McLogan was the director of nursing for Sequel, who owns and operates a few living facilities including Lakeside. She was at the academy the day Fredericks was restrained.
"When you’re talking about a chaotic scene like this with multiple other people in the same room, who all had different version of CPR training there’s a question about causation for sure," Markou said.
Markou added that people began ‘backing off the restraint when McLogan was there.’ She left the scene to get a pulse oximeter, a device that measures a person’s oxygen levels in the blood. When she returned is when they performed CPR and called 911.
However, prosecutors believe that she could have done more to give Fredericks proper care, he said.
“These types of charges are incredibly unusual under the law. I think the prosecutor is going to have a difficult time finding a specific duty that she breached and they’re going to have a tough time showing that whatever she did caused this young man’s death,” Markou said. “She is not the person who restrained this young man.”
