COVINGTON — The mother of a 17-year-old boy who claims he was beaten by deputies and staff at two Northern Kentucky juvenile detention facilities is suing the state Department of Juvenile Justice and staff members.

        The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court by attorneys Stuart Brown and Blaine Hamilton.

        It alleges that the youth was threatened and struck while incarcerated at the Campbell County Juvenile Detention Center in Newport in June and in the Northern Kentucky Youth Development Center in Crittenden in October.

        It follows an investigation in September by the Kentucky State Police and state juvenile justice officials into complaints about abuse at the Newport facility that were brought to Kentucky Appeals Court Judge Wilfrid Schroder.

        State police officers who checked the allegations said there was not enough evidence to bring any criminal charges.

        Juvenile Justice Public Information Officer Kym Newcom said there had been eight allegations of staff mis conduct at the Newport facility since it opened Aug. 2, 1999, and three had been substantiated.

        Two of the deputies who were disciplined as the result of allegations are named in the suit: Wayne Menifee, who was suspended from the Campbell County facility, and Jamie Davis, who was suspended from the Crittenden facility.

        Ms. Newcom said the Department of Juvenile Justice had not been served with a copy of the suit as of Friday afternoon and would not be able to comment until Commissioner Ralph Kelly and state attorneys had the opportunity to examine the charges.

        Mr. Hamilton said Friday that the teen-ager sustained a cut to his chin that required stitches when he was struck at the Youth Development Center. “We aren't certain as to the seriousness of the injuries he sustained at the Campbell County facility,” he said.

        The suit asks for a jury trial and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Also named in the suit are the superintendents of both facilities, and several named and unnamed deputies and workers.

        The suit charges that in June, the teen-ager was threatened and struck by several deputies and staff members in the 2-year-old Newport facility. Then, when the youth went to the Crittenden Development Center in October, similar threats were made and the teen-ager was “intentionally physically attacked and struck multiple times” by deputies and staff.

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