Kendrick Johnson’s Parents File New Lawsuit Against GA Department Of Health

The parents of Kendrick Johnson, a Georgia teen whose dead body was found rolled up in a gym mat at Lowndes High School in 2013, filed an amended federal lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Health. 

According to 41NBC, Jacquelyn and Kenneth Johnson, Kendrick Johnson’s mother and father, have filed a $12 million lawsuit over the Georgia Department of Health’s refusal to change their son’s official cause of death. While the original autopsy conducted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) ruled Kendrick Johnson died from accidental positional asphyxia, an independent autopsy ordered by his parents listed his cause of death as non-accidental blunt force trauma.

“We have filed the right paperwork. We have filed several different times to get his death certificate corrected,” Kenneth Johnson told the news outlet. “They want to just dismiss evidence of what happened to Kendrick, and we will not allow them to do that.”  

Kendrick Johnson was a 17-year-old who attended Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia. His death sent shockwaves throughout the nation due to the bizarre and, quite frankly, horrific way his body was found. Investigators ruled that Kendrick Johnson’s death was accidental and that he likely fell into the gym mat while trying to obtain his shoes. An investigation by both the GBI and the FBI found that no foul play was involved. 

The case was reopened in 2021 by Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk, though he too came to the conclusion that no foul play was involved. Paulk offered a $500,000 reward for any new information on the case after Kenneth Johnson called him “a liar” over his findings. In the amended lawsuit, Kendrick Johnson’s parents allege that the independent autopsy revealed new evidence that foul play was involved in Johnson’s death. 

From the Miami Herald: 

The new evidence obtained by the Johnsons in the last several months, according to the lawsuit, includes includes a photo from his autopsy performed by a state medical examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who ruled Kendrick died of “accidental positional asphyxiation” — a conclusion his parents say is false.

According to the lawsuit, photos from the initial autopsy show Kendrick’s internal organs were “severely injured.” This contradicts the GBI medical examiner’s report that noted he had no major injuries, the complaint says. Images of Kendrick’s body at his high school indicate he was stomped on “with extreme force,” according to the complaint. Photos show “highly visible tread marks from the bottom of a shoe on Kendrick’s abdomen,” the complaint says.

The GBI issued a statement in response to the new lawsuit, standing by their findings. “[The] GBI Medical Examiner’s Office conducted a thorough autopsy on this case. The case is closed, and we stand behind our original findings,” GBI public affairs director Sara Lue said in a statement. 

The GBI and Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office are also the subject of a separate, $1 billion lawsuit filed by Kendrick Johnson’s parents, accusing them of actively covering up the circumstances of their son’s death. 

“If Kendrick was white, his family wouldn’t be going through this right now,” Kenneth Johnson told 41NBC. “But since it’s a Black child, these people don’t care. But we care. And we will push for the truth. And we will push for everything to be right.”

SEE ALSO:

‘Nothing’s Been Done’ About Kendrick Johnson’s Death

Kendrick Johnson’s Gym Mat Death Case Reopened

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