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Pa. Family Sues After Boy Killed By Tree At Md. Nature Camp

WESTMINSTER, Md. (WJZ)—Should Carroll County be held responsible for the death of a 9-year-old? His family is suing the county after a tree crushed the little boy while he was at a county-run campsite. 

Mike Hellgren spoke to his family. 

Katherine Asid is still shaken almost two years since a tree crushed her only son -- 9-year-old Noah -- to death as he was attending a camp at Hashawha Environmental Center run by Carroll County. 

His family is suing the county for $12 million--saying the massive tree was already dead and should have been cut down, and that counselors took children outside during high winds when they should have been kept indoors. 

"He was the light of my life," Asid said. "He was the light of everybody's life who knew him.  We're just devastated."

"We hope to prevent other children from being harmed--God forbid—killed at the same nature camp," said Jack Lebowitz, Asid family's attorney. 

The county attorney told WJZ he has not seen the lawsuit and can't comment on it. 

The death was painful enough for the family, but they say the response from the county made it worse. They sent Noah's mom a refund of the $120 she paid for the camp. 

Asid says she got no apology. Instead, she says she received a letter with the refund saying the event did not go as planned and inviting her to attend a Maple Sugar Festival. 

"The treatment of Kathy is just unforgivable," said Shirley Asid, Noah's grandmother.

"It was horrible," Katherine Asid said. "I couldn't believe that they sent me that." 

Noah's family is demanding accountability, but they'll never get back the one thing they really want:  him. 

"You wake up every day, and my only child is gone," Katherine Asid said.  

The county will have a month to formally file an answer to the lawsuit.

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