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Lawsuit: Second Chance Employees Forced Carl DeBrodie to Fight, Left Him to Die

Carl DeBrodie was forced to sleep on a basement floor and fight another resident for the amusement of two Second Chance employees before he had a seizure and was left to die in a bathtub, according to allegations in an amended wrongful death lawsuit filed this week in federal court.

DeBrodie, 31, suffered several serious injuries, including at least six broken ribs, as a result of the forced fights. He died in the bathtub of a home where he’d been taken several times by a former assistant director of the independent living facility in Fulton where he had been living.

The amended complaint sheds light on the abuse DeBrodie allegedly was subjected to at the hands of the people who were entrusted with his care. DeBrodie’s mother, Carolyn Summers, and her sister-in-law, Carol Samson, sued Second Chance Homes, several of its employees and a number of state agencies in January in Callaway County Court.

The lawsuit was later moved to U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri because of alleged civil rights violations, said Rudy Veit, an attorney representing DeBrodie’s family members in the case. Veit said all of the defendants consented to moving the case to federal court.

To view the whole story, go to columbiamissourian.com