Attorney Ben Crump says Alegend Jones footage is 'telling.' When video will be released to public

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the family of Alegend Jones, who died after an altercation at Youth Villages, told reporters on Wednesday that the video footage of Jones's death is "telling."

While the footage is incomplete, it is compiled of Memphis Police Department body camera, dash camera and rear camera footage in addition to Youth Villages' camera footage. The video footage is not yet available for the public.

Youth Villages continued to reiterate in a statement that there were no abusive or otherwise inappropriate actions against Jones during the incidents that led to her death.

The footage gives a timeline of events from when Jones, 17, arrived at Shelby County Health Department to when she left for the hospital due to injuries allegedly suffered from Youth Villages staffers. Jones's mother, Shona Garner-White, said that all staff members who were present during her daughter's alleged attack are still working at Youth Villages.

"Our leadership staff has reviewed all the interventions in this case, and we believe that the protocols that we have in place were followed correctly," Youth Villages statement said.

Jones was taken to Shelby County Health Department for a pelvic exam and arrived at 11:26 a.m., Crump said that there were two women staffers from Youth Villages that accompanied Jones to the exam. Body camera footage from police officers show that when they arrived there were two men holding Jones after a call regarding an altercation involving "three adults."

Youth Villages said that Jones was placed in a "therapeutic hold" due to an aggressive episode in which Jones physically attacked Youth Villages staff members. Youth Villages said that three staff members were injured during the incident.

Police officers then drive Jones back to the Youth Villages campus per her request. Jones and police arrive on campus at 11:48 a.m. Crump said that, according to footage from inside the police car, Jones was being cooperative with police.

According to Crump, the video footage shows that Jones asked if the officers could walk her inside the Youth Villages building upon arrival. Youth Villages staff members are outside with "blue gloves on," Crump alleges that the staff is prepared for a physical altercation.

Youth Villages said that staff were awaiting her arrival due to the "earlier aggressive episode," and that because Youth Villages is a psychiatric health care facility gloves are common practice as a "precautionary measure for the health and safety of everyone in a potential or active crisis."

Youth Villages staff tell police that they do not have jurisdiction inside the Youth Villages building, and were asked to leave. According to Crump, within the next half hour something happened inside the building that led to the death of Jones. Crump said in the video they can see a small portion of what happened inside of the building, and that one counselor grabbed Jones and she pulled away from the counselor.

A crowd of counselors then allegedly started to surround Jones and one appeared to grab her by the neck, Crump said. Youth Villages denies this claim, stating that Jones was placed in a therapeutic hold after having "she had another aggressive episode," and attacked a staff member.

Youth Villages said that when Jones began to exhibit symptoms of a medical emergency, staff immediately responded following protocols for emergency medical intervention.

Emergency medical services then arrived at the Youth Villages campus to find Jones unconscious at 12:32 p.m. Youth Villages claims that nursing staff and EMS performed CPR on the campus before Jones was transported to the hospital.

EMS initially drives Jones to St. Francis Hospital and then she is taken to Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital. Crump alleges that Jones remained unconscious for almost 90 minutes during the travel to and from the hospitals.

Youth Villages claims that Jones remained in the care of St. Francis Hospital for eight to nine hours before being transported to Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital.

The family and Crump met Wednesday morning with Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy along with other staff members from the DA's office. Crump said that the DA will release the video footage after the criminal investigation is complete.

Garner-White said that the last time she spoke to Youth Villages' staffers was Dec. 21, when she sought to pick up Jones's belongings at Youth Villages.

But Youth Villages noted they offered to show the family the video footage, but they claim the family declined to watch it.

Jones' death was first reported in mid-November, in what Youth Villages described as an "incident" and "medical emergency" in a press release. In that release, Youth Villages said it did "not know the cause of the medical emergency" and denied that any abuses took place.

Crump and Garner-White said on Dec. 21 they had the medical records that show Jones suffered brain compression and other significant injuries that led to her death.

This is not the official autopsy report. In a statement, Youth Villages said they will not comment on anything medically until the official autopsy report is released.

The medical records that Garner-White obtained show that Jones suffered from Rhabdomyolysis, a rare condition in which muscle cells break down and release a substance into the blood. Rhabdomyolysis can lead to kidney failure often caused by direct or indirect muscle injury, Crump said.

Youth Villages said in a statement regarding the medical records that they are "fully transparent and working with all authorities," and cannot release the video footage due to "confidentiality and privacy laws."

Youth Villages also said that they met with Garner-White last week and have also received a representation letter from Crump earlier last week that they responded to and "offered to have a conversation" but are still awaiting a response.

Youth Villages has previously strongly denied that any staff physically mistreated Jones and has also disputed numerous other claims made by Crump and Garner-White.

Brooke Muckerman covers Shelby County Government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at 901-484-6225, [email protected] and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump: Alegend Jones video footage 'telling'