Travis Parker, 13, died last month after being restrained at a wilderness camp.

The 13-year-old Douglas County boy stood before his camp counselor, hands balled in fists, muscles taut, and said, "What are you gonna do?"

For Travis Parker, that moment of defiance led to his death.

At a wilderness camp for troubled boys in North Georgia, three counselors held him on the ground for about a hour and a half, much of the time face down.

It ended when he stopped breathing, according to reports by the state Department of Human Resources. The next day, April 21, he was taken off life support and died.

Georgia child welfare advocates question why the boy, who had asthma, needed to be held down so long. His family is demanding answers, and state investigators are exploring whether to press criminal charges.

Autopsy results are pending, and the camp counselors involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave.

Travis' grandmother, who had raised the boy since he was a toddler, has been too grief-stricken to grant an interview, said a lawyer hired by the family.

Golden Griffin, who is 68 and lives in Winston, had high hopes for Travis at the wilderness camp and had visited it to take parenting classes.

A review of DHR documents on Travis -- more than 200 pages -- tells a story of a boy troubled since his birth on May 18, 1991.

He was born addicted to crack cocaine, which is believed to have contributed to his problems with aggression, according to a DHR report last year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the records through the Georgia Open Records law.

When Travis was 18 months old, his grandmother took him in. It's unclear where his mother is, but records indicate that he had not seen her in about four years. His father died of a heart attack when Travis was about 5.

Smiling but troubled

Travis, who liked to play baseball, football and basketball, had attended a middle school for students with behavioral problems in Douglas County. His teachers complained that he got into fights. He was eventually barred from a school bus for fighting. He also got into trouble for pointing a BB gun at a school bus and for taking a swing at a teacher.

Peggy Walker, a Douglas County Juvenile Court judge, had worked with Travis and attended his funeral. "Travis had a smile that would light up the room," she said.

After the death of his father, other relatives made sure to include Travis in family outings, including a vacation to the Caribbean, according to family lawyer Michael Tyler.

Tyler said Travis and his grandmother had a loving relationship. "He was the center of her world," Tyler said.

The boy and his grandmother went to church regularly, and Travis was member of the church youth group and attended Sunday school, the lawyer said.

"The reality is that he did not have serious disciplinary issues until the last year of his life," Tyler said. "He was not a chronic delinquent. He faced challenges in his life, and he and his family were struggling to overcome them."

But the boy and his grandmother did not always have an easy relationship.

Travis had been on probation since February 2004 for hitting his grandmother and threatening her with a knife.

An uncle stepped in and took Travis in for a while in 2004. That arrangement ended in March of last year when the uncle obtained a restraining order against the boy because Travis had threatened him, the records said.

Travis also hurt himself sometimes, according to records from the state Department of Juvenile Justice.

In November of last year, he tried to hang himself with a sheet in a juvenile detention center. But the knot in the sheet broke.

He said he was depressed because he wanted to go home, according to an incident report by the department.

That same month, he used a pencil eraser to rub marks into his arm.

"A voice told me to do it," he said, according to an incident report. "Something kept telling me to kill myself, but I would not do it."

Also in November, he began cutting himself with a comb. When asked why, he responded, "I was mad and instead of hurting others I hurt myself."

Sending Travis to the wilderness camp in February was the latest attempt to help him.

Judge Walker had ordered him to complete the outdoor therapeutic program as a condition of his probation, the records said.

While Walker declined to discuss Travis specifically, she said she generally sends boys to such camps to teach them to control their impulses.

Typically at the camps, the boys begin with few privileges. The more they accomplish, the more privileges they obtain, she said.

'Acting out'

The Appalachian Wilderness Camp, in Cleveland in the North Georgia mountains, is a DHR-operated program for about 50 boys ages 8 to 17.

On the afternoon of April 20, Travis was among a group of boys who had gotten in trouble for not doing chores.

The boys began "acting out" -- refusing commands, yelling, singing and cursing, according to an account of the incident by Sara Hopper, consumer protection manager for DHR's North Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.

Her account is based on her interviews with counselors involved in the incident and some of the children who witnessed it.

As punishment, the boys were not allowed to eat in the lodge.

At about 10 p.m., the boys still had not had dinner, and Travis became upset when a counselor offered two boys snacks to reward good behavior. Travis confronted the counselor.

"I told him to back up," that counselor said in a written statement. "He came closer in a threatening fashion. I repeated the instruction three times. Travis continued to have his fists balled, arms out and saying, 'What are you gonna do?' "

Within moments, the counselors put Travis in a "full basket'" restraint.

According to a separate incident report by the state Department of Juvenile Justice, his arms were crossed in front of him and held from behind by one counselor.

Travis was forced to the ground and held face down, while another counselor held his legs and another counselor held his hips, the DJJ report said.

A violent struggle

Travis struggled violently, the counselors said in individual handwritten accounts, included in the DHR records.

Counselors said they regularly checked his breathing and vital signs, put a blanket under him and swept away a stone he said was pressing on his face.

"The counselors involved in the restraint continuously attempted to de-escalate the restraint to no avail," a counselor said. "Instructions to stop resisting were ignored."

The six camp staffers involved in the incident had received training in restraint techniques, according to camp employment files. Their experience on the job ranged from three months to four years.

About 10 minutes into the restraint, Travis asked for his asthma inhaler, but he didn't get it.

The counselors reported that he showed no signs of having an asthma attack, said the Hopper account.

One counselor said that when he brushed aside a stone that was bothering Travis, the youth bit his hand. "I asked why he bit me and Travis responded with, 'I don't know,' " the counselor said.

Ten boys witnessed the incident, according to Hopper's account.

About 11 p.m., an hour after the restraint had begun, counselors said, they continued to check Travis' breathing and circulation and rolled him on his left side to help with circulation.

About 11:30 p.m., Travis had stopped speaking or responding to questions, the Hopper account said. The counselors moved him to a sitting position.

Two counselors tried to stand Travis on his feet but he was limp, according to the Hopper account.

Then they found Travis was not breathing and had no pulse.

"His head and limbs were floppy," the account said.