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Settlement Near for Juvenile Jail Incident

SCRANTON — A settlement in a case that Action 16 Investigates first brought to you last year has been reached. Cameras inside a juvenile jail in Lackawann...

SCRANTON -- A settlement in a case that Action 16 Investigates first brought to you last year has been reached. Cameras inside a juvenile jail in Lackawanna County, captured images of what appears to be the abuse of a teenaged inmate, by a guard.

A mother from Scranton claims the video shows a corrections officer at the juvenile lockup beating her teenaged son, and she took her case to federal court last year.

Now it appears the case will be settled out of court.

Surveillance video from February of 2012 shows the teen, identified only as Branden, yelling at something outside his cell at the Juvenile Detention Center.

Moments later, it shows Lackawanna County Juvenile Corrections Officer Paul Grizzanti entering the cell. It appears Grizzanti goes after the boy who was 16-years-old at the time. Then in the scuffle, it appears the boy gets slammed into a cinder block wall.

"My heart just races every single time I see this.  It`s terrible," said Karen Purdy last summer.

Lackawanna County officials investigated, and found Grizzanti did not commit a crime.

This past July, Karen Purdy and Branden sued the county in federal court. Sources said a settlement between her and Lackawanna County`s insurance provider has been reached.

These sources said the dollar amount of the settlement should be made public in the next month, when the insurance company is expected to recommend approving the settlement.

Commissioners will decide to approve or reject the proposed settlement.

If Lackawanna County commissioners approve the settlement, the county will have to pay a deductible.

In past settlements, that deductible has been in the range of $25,000.

If commissioners decide to fight the case in court, the insurance company would be on the hook for nothing, and the county would be at risk of paying 100% of any jury award.

You can see the original Action 16 Investigation that aired July 19, 2013 here.

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