Georgia DJJ to Pay $4.5M After Teen, 17, Died in Guard-Run ‘Fight Game’ at Waycross Center

Waycross, Georgia — The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice will pay $4.5 million to the parents of a 17-year-old boy who died after a guard allegedly staged a fight between youths inside the Waycross Regional Youth Detention Center in 2022, according to the family’s lawyers and reports by WTOC and Douglas Now.

The payment resolves a federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the teen’s family, WTOC reported. The guard accused of organizing the fight still faces a second-degree murder charge, and his criminal case has not gone to trial.

What happened

According to the family’s complaint, as reported by Douglas Now, the teen was struck in the neck by another resident on Aug. 9, 2022, during a fight the guard set up. He lost consciousness and died two days later. The complaint gives the cause of death as a vertebral artery dissection; WTOC described it as neck trauma.

The complaint alleges the guard moved the boys into a closet to avoid security cameras before the fight. After the teen collapsed, the guard and other youths moved him to a shower, where the guard splashed him with water and slapped him to try to wake him, Douglas Now reported. The lawsuit says 911 was not called for at least 10 minutes after he collapsed, according to WTOC, which also reported that video shows other children moving him between rooms.

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The family’s lawyers allege it was not the first such fight. Their complaint says guards arranged, permitted and encouraged fights between youths on multiple occasions, and that some guards called them horseplay, according to Douglas Now.

The criminal case

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested the guard, Sgt. Thomas Lee Hicks Sr., then 30, on Aug. 16, 2022, Douglas Now reported. He was charged with second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree cruelty to children and violation of oath of office. A Ware County grand jury indicted him in 2023, WTOC reported, and the case remains pending.

Two days after the arrest, the GBI said a juvenile complaint for involuntary manslaughter had been secured against the youth involved in the fight, according to Douglas Now.

Where the system failed

The teen was in the state’s custody, inside a detention center run by the agency charged with his safety. The allegations describe a guard who arranged violence between the children he was supervising, worked around the facility’s own cameras and delayed calling for help.

Family attorney Brent Savage said the department told the court its existing policies already covered situations like this one, WTOC reported. When WTOC asked whether the agency had adopted new policies since the death, and for comment on the settlement, the department did not comment.

They didn’t take any responsibility for what they were doing.

Brent Savage, attorney for the family, to WTOC

A settlement does not answer who knew about the fights, how long they had gone on or whether anyone above the guard was disciplined. FAN has tracked the same pattern in foster homes, group homes and detention centers across the country: when a child dies in state custody, the agency investigates itself, pays to close the case and says little. The same lack of accountability runs through the problems FAN documents in the foster care system.

What’s next

The family is represented by Greg Gilluly, Brent Savage and Stephens Preston Collins of the firm Savage, Turner, Pinckney, Savage, Sprouse & Gilluly. Hicks’s criminal case in Ware County has not been set for trial in published reports.

Key facts

• The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice will pay $4.5 million to settle a federal wrongful-death suit.
• A 17-year-old died two days after being struck in the neck during an alleged guard-organized fight on Aug. 9, 2022.
• The suit alleges the fight was staged in a closet to avoid cameras and that 911 was not called for at least 10 minutes.
• Sgt. Thomas Lee Hicks Sr. is charged with second-degree murder, cruelty to children and violation of oath of office.
• A Ware County grand jury indicted Hicks in 2023; the case has not gone to trial.
• The department did not comment on the settlement, WTOC reported.

Sources

• Douglas Now — Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice ordered to pay millions for 2022 wrongful death of Douglas teen at Waycross RYDC (2026-10-23)
• WTOC — Department of Juvenile Justice to pay $4.5M to family of 17-year-old who died at Waycross detention center (2026-10-27)

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