Lawsuit alleges Kankakee group home employee coerced residents into beating disabled man

KANKAKEE, Ill. (WLS) -- The life of Zach Stenkewitz changed when his family said he was catastrophically hurt at a facility belonging to Help at Home Group Homes.

The family in Kankakee said the incident has shattered their lives. It's been about two-and-a-half years since Stenkewitz suffered severe brain damage from the alleged beating at a group home.

The family has filed a lawsuit in hopes of getting more answers and help for his recovery.

Stenkewitz was diagnosed with high-functioning autism along with some other developmental disabilities. He was living at the community-integrated living arrangement in Kankakee since 2018.

Attorneys said an employee convinced two other developmentally disabled residents to beat him in July of 2021, as the employee recorded it all on his cellphone. Stenkewitz was 28-years-old at the time.

"It's extremely painful," Zach's mother, Micki Stenkewitz, said. "It's heartbreaking and it's devastating."

The Levin and Perconti law firm obtained the cell phone video of the beating. The video shows two people working together to pin Stenkewitz down while one of them hit him repeatedly in the head with a pillow case that appears to hold heavy objects.

The law firm said the video only came to light because it was sent to another employee at the home.

"Zach right now needs to have all of his activities at daily living attended to," Micki said. "He can't dress himself, can't toilet himself, can't bathe himself, needs help with feeding."

The other concern for Micki is that she was never notified about the incident until six days after it happened, when her son was taken to the emergency room.

"I received a phone call an hour later from the hospital telling me my son has suffered brain bleeds, a traumatic brain injury and that he was being airlifted to a hospital in Urbana, Illinois, so he can get more intensive treatment," Micki said. "As you can imagine, it shattered my world."

The employee at the home has since been identified as Dayveon Rocquemore. He faces two counts of aggravated battery and is in custody at the Kankakee County jail as he awaits trial.

The home in Kankakee has been shut down, but it's not clear if the beating incident had any impact on that decision.

The family attorney said there have been indications that Rocquemore allegedly recorded the video as a form of discipline for some behavior Zach had been showing. The family believes Rocquemore was never suited for that job.

"There's a lot of unanswered questions but Zach also deserves to be in a safe environment," attorney Kelly Sabo Gaden said. "The employee who took the video appears to be untrained. We have his personnel file. He was unsupervised."

Micki said she has two other children who are also developmentally-disabled adults. She said the close bond between the three of them is what keeps the family going as they pray for justice to be served.

"Through this all I think his sparking personality comes through when it can," Micki said. "He's a little boy trapped in a man's body. Life's not fair, but at the same time we can at least expect some justice and answers."

A spokesperson for Help at Home Group Homes told ABC7 they could not comment on the situation because of the pending litigation.