The Arizona Department of Child Safety is asking a judge to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing the agency of leaving two Scottsdale brothers in danger despite repeated warnings. The case stems from the January 2022 death of 11-year-old Chaskah Davis Smith, who was found badly injured at an extended-stay hotel near Old Town Scottsdale. His younger brother survived and, according to the lawsuit, suffered severe trauma.
According to ABC15 Arizona, the lawsuit alleges DCS received seven reports raising concerns about the boys’ safety over four years but never removed them from their grandmother’s care. Stephanie Davis and her partner, Thomas Desharnais, face first-degree murder and child abuse charges in Chaskah’s death. Both have pleaded not guilty, while prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The agency’s court filing argues that DCS investigators have qualified-immunity protections allowing them to exercise professional judgment. A Maricopa County judge will decide whether those protections require the case to be dismissed or whether the lawsuit can move forward.
The Report Count Is Already A Point Of Dispute
The public record contains a narrower DCS account of the family’s history before Chaskah’s death. In a 2022 statement from the Arizona Department of Child Safety, the agency said it received three reports involving the family in 2017; the allegations were deemed unsubstantiated, and one investigation ended after the family moved out of state. DCS also said the surviving sibling was removed and placed in foster care after Chaskah’s death.
That difference—seven reports alleged in the lawsuit versus three prior reports listed in DCS’s own statement—could become a central factual fight. Earlier coverage by Arizona’s Family said the complaint describes years of severe abuse and seeks damages for the surviving brother, who now lives with his biological mother in Minnesota. Those allegations have not been resolved in civil court.
Why Qualified Immunity Matters
As described by ABC15 Arizona, DCS is asking the court to apply qualified-immunity protections to the investigators involved. The motion does not determine whether the abuse allegations are true or whether Davis and Desharnais are criminally responsible; it asks whether the surviving brother’s civil claims can proceed against the state agency and its workers. The judge’s ruling will set the next direction for a lawsuit that has reopened questions about how repeated child-safety reports were handled in Scottsdale.
