L.A. County Settles With Family Of 14-Year-Old Who Died At Juvenile Hall

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors this week voted to approve a $400,000 settlement to the family of a boy who died after he showed signs of medical problems for at least five days at a county-run juvenile hall before he was taken to a hospital, where he ultimately died.

The five-member board voted 4-0 to approve the deal, with Supervisor Don Knabe absent. The only caveat in the vote was that approval of the motion's "corrective action plan" -- essentially a document that outlined what changes would be made to avoid such a tragedy in the future -- was continued until July.

As we told you Tuesday, 14-year-old Tremayne Cole was at the Probation Department-run Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall when he started complaining of toothaches, headaches and other problems in February of 2008. He did this for five days straight, with records for three subsequent days incomplete.

Ten days after he first complained of pain he was taken to County-USC Medical Center, where doctors determined he had meningitis. They tried to drain infectious fluid from his head to relieve the pain it was causing.

On March 4 Cole was declared dead.

The incident illustrates some of the troubles plaguing the Probation Department, which is being sued over conditions at another juvenile facility.