SCOTTSDALE, AZ — A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against the Arizona Department of Child Safety that accuses the state of ignoring warning signs before an 11-year-old boy was killed and his 9-year-old brother was injured.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the boy's surviving brother, accuses the state agency of negligence after receiving seven reports to DCS between 2017 and 2021. The complaint says teachers, police officers, and a child advocate all raised concerns to the state agency.
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In January 2022, 11-year-old Chaskah Davis Smith was found at a Scottsdale extended-stay hotel near Old Town Scottsdale with injuries. The family was living there at the time. He did not survive.
The boys' grandmother, Stephanie Davis, and her husband, Thomas Desharnais, were indicted on felony first-degree murder and child abuse. They are facing trial next year. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The surviving brother suffered "extensive and permanent physical injuries," according to the lawsuit filed earlier this year. His cognitive development was also "severely impaired by years of abuse," the lawsuit claims.
The surviving brother's attorney says the civil case is about whether DCS employees followed agency procedures.
"There are rules for how things happen. And this case is about how those rules were not followed," said Shannon Clark, an attorney representing the surviving brother.
The state argued its employees were protected from negligence claims by what's called qualified immunity.
The judge rejected that argument, allowing the civil case to go forward.
