14-03-2025
Police reports detail disturbance at Sununu youth center
Mar. 14—Juvenile residents causing a disturbance inside the Sununu Youth Services Center allegedly kicked and bit state troopers, yelled racial epithets and grabbed on to a Taser while authorities worked to restore order, according to recently released police reports.
The New Hampshire Union Leader sued to have the reports made public.
Police were called to the Manchester center on the night of Oct. 7, 2022, after several of the young residents refused to return to their rooms and became unruly, threatening staff and blocking security cameras, the reports say.
"At this moment, it was apparent that the incident was out of control and that more residents might become a risk to the lives of troopers and SYSC staff due to their violent tendencies," state Trooper Jonathan Janosz wrote in his report.
One resident asked a state trooper if he could have his gun during the disturbance. Residents shouted the N-word and one spat in a trooper's face.
Trooper Thomas Skafidas wrote that he was headbutted twice and kicked in the mouth, bloodying his lip.
One resident was taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries. A trooper sought medical treatment at an urgent care center for his right wrist.
Several state troopers and, later, at least three Manchester Police units responded to the center, listed as "a 24-hour secure treatment facility that offers intensive treatment for New Hampshire's detained and committed youth, both male and female, ages 13 to 17," according to the state Department of Health and Human Services website.
It wasn't the first violent incident at the center.
Between August and October 2022, police and emergency medical services were called to the Manchester facility 10 times and staffers had been badly hurt, according to the State Employees Association. Two needed surgeries after the assaults, and two suffered concussions. One worker had three concussions in as many months, and several workers were bitten by youths.
In 2022, the Union Leader requested records from the Department of Safety seeking "public records related to the State Police response" at the youth center on Oct. 7-8, "including any incident reports with confidential information redacted."
The state Supreme Court last year ruled the Union Leader should have more access to police records regarding the incident and the response.
"Disclosure of the reports allow the public to decide whether the government — the SYSC staff and the police — handled the situation well or not (and) whether or not here was anything that should've be done differently to deescalate or respond to the situation," attorney Kathleen Sullivan, who argued the newspaper's case, said in an email this week.
"The facility had less than half of the recommended number of staff and teachers, and the public has a right to know what that actually looks like," Sullivan said.
Open records?
The Attorney General's Office maintained the records fell under confidential juvenile proceedings.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte's proposed trailer bill to the next two-year state budget (House Bill 2) would exempt from public disclosure "records held by the executive branch that are 'under seal' or confidential in a court file."
"If that bill becomes law, this is a great example of records and information that the public would never be allowed to see," Sullivan said.
State Police, which issue news releases on highway crashes and violent crimes, did not issue a release on the 2022 disturbance, according to an archived list of releases on the agency's website.
State Police also declined to discuss their responses to trouble at the center beyond confirming them.
On that Oct. 7, Trooper Janosz's report recounted how a resident "successfully broke through his cell door window" and had an approximately 12-inch piece of "wood trim in his hand, with roughly a half dozen nails embedded into the wood" and began swinging it, trying to hit the troopers.
An "incident report" dated the following month had the suspect's name blacked out with six charges listed: five counts of assault by prisoner simple assault and one count of disorderly conduct.
Four victims were listed, but their names were blacked out. Their listed employer addresses matched the address for the State Police headquarters in Concord.
The "enforcement action" also was blacked out.
Asked for comment from State Police about that night, Department of Safety spokesman Tyler Dumont said in an email Friday: "The department has provided all public information as directed by the court. It is not appropriate to provide any further comment on the incident at this time as the matter involves juveniles in state care."
Jake Leon, spokesman for HHS, which oversees the center, sent the identical two-sentence response to questions posed by the Union Leader.
Video awaited
The newspaper still is awaiting the release of police body camera footage from the disturbance from the Department of Safety.
"It has been 56 days since the trial court ordered the Department of Safety to blur or omit the faces and voices of juveniles and make that edited footage from body worn cameras and security cameras public," Sullivan said.
"The Department of Justice says that it will not be ready for at least another 30 — 60 days," Sullivan said. "We find that unacceptable and have filed a motion asking the court to order disclosure within 7 days."
DOJ spokesman Michael Garrity said in an email Thursday: "The 60-day estimate is the current estimate from the Department of Safety."
At the Sununu center that Oct. 7, one resident told Trooper Skafidas he didn't want to go back to his room because he felt the staff were being racist towards another resident, the staff had warned the residents caught with their pants sagging low would be punished, and that this resident was unhappy about a staff member being reassigned to his unit, according to the trooper's report.
The reports blacked out the names of the juveniles, per the court's direction, making it difficult at times to determine how many residents were involved. Reports cited at least three unruly residents.
Another trooper underscored his colleagues' concern.
"At this point, the situation was getting out of control and staff members were fighting with" a resident trying to restrain him while another resident "was attempting to break out of his room and assault troopers," wrote Trooper Douglas Bailey Jr. in his report.
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