TN - Lisa Edwards, 60, Died of Stroke in Police Custody, Knoxville, 6 February 2023

[UrsulaWrenn]

Forgive if there is already a thread. I searched but didn't find one.

A 60-year-old woman died of a stroke in police custody when two hospitals discharged her and LEOs didn't believe she was ill.​

A 60-year-old woman died of a stroke in police custody after officers accused her of acting, mockingly offered her a cigarette, and called her 'dead weight'

"If I treated someone the way they treated her, I'd be in jail right now heading to prison," said the woman's son, Tim Boylan.

www.insider.com

It was bad enough no one believed she was ill. In fact, that was likely a death sentence, even if she had been bussed to a shelter or something.

But the LEOs standing around making fun of her and treating her like trash makes my blood boil.

Even if she was faking it just for attention or drugs or a night in a warm jail cell, there was still no reason or excuse for the way she was treated.

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

A 60-year-old woman died of a stroke in police custody after officers accused her of acting, mockingly offered her a cigarette, and called her 'dead weight'

"If I treated someone the way they treated her, I'd be in jail right now heading to prison," said the woman's son, Tim Boylan.

www.insider.com

Edwards was taken back to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, and was placed on life support. She died the next day. Her autopsy showed that Edwards died of a stroke, meaning the DA's office will not press criminal charges against the officers.

"Specifically, Ms Edwards was not beaten by the police, she was never subdued, there was no physical struggle between law enforcement and Ms Edwards, and there was no restraint asphyxia," it said.

IMO, conduct unbecoming should be instant dismissal, and disqualification from ever working law enforcement again.

 

[LoveyG]

I watched the video and was horrified. They accuse her of being dead weight and not trying to move. IMO she was having a stroke at that very moment. That's exactly what it's like. Your limbs are dead weight and it does not look like you are trying to move because you can't move. I say this with confidence because I've had a stroke. Awful, just awful.

 

[ifindedout]

Timeline and an update.

TIMELINE: What led to Lisa Edwards’ death and has happened since

Following the death of Lisa Edwards in police custody and the release of videos showing how officers interacted with her before her death, some have raised questions about why officers were not cha…

www.wate.com

Quoting from parts of the update:

March 2​

Lisa Edwards’ family has retained civil rights and personal injury Attorney Devon M. Jacob to represent them and Edwards’ estate, a press release from Jacob Litigation states.

“While Ms. Edwards was in the custody of the police department and hospital, they had a duty to protect her life,” noted Jacob. “Instead, the hospital kicked her out and police officers used their police power to tease and taunt her while deliberately denying her access to necessary emergency medical care. This caused her medical condition to rapidly decline and led to a medical emergency that resulted in her death.”

According to the release, Jacob has represented families in the some of the nation’s highest profile cases, including the cases of George Floyd, Pamela Turner, EJ Bradford, Hunter Brittain, and Christian Hall.

March 3​

Covenant Health CEO Jim VanderSteeg told reporters that what he saw on the video showing how Lisa Edwards was treated verbally was “unacceptable” and that he was “more than disappointed.” VanderSteeg told reporters that a thorough investigation is being done within the company, looking at “everything.”

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

“While Ms. Edwards was in the custody of the police department and hospital, they had a duty to protect her life,” noted Jacob. “Instead, the hospital kicked her out and police officers used their police power to tease and taunt her while deliberately denying her access to necessary emergency medical care. This caused her medical condition to rapidly decline and led to a medical emergency that resulted in her death.”

I'm glad to hear there may be avenues for legal redress. No one should be treated as she was, and if her family can get some justice for their loss, that is a huge step to making it better.
But I still think law enforcement agencies -and hospital staffs- everywhere should take a lesson here and take steps to make sure this kind of thing never happens again.

 

[TGIRecovered]

I watched the videos. It seemed to me that officers were trusting the clinical judgment of the medical professionals who discharged her from the hospital. The hospital staff set the narrative that Lisa was medically stable but uncooperative to the point that police were called. Officers were told that Lisa was good to go. In my opinion, the hospital is more at fault than the police officers, who also could have used better judgment. MOO

 

[neesaki]

This is horrific and makes me so angry. The hospital needs to be held accountable, and the officers should be charged criminally, IMO.

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

I watched the videos. It seemed to me that officers were trusting the clinical judgment of the medical professionals who discharged her from the hospital. The hospital staff set the narrative that Lisa was medically stable but uncooperative to the point that police were called. Officers were told that Lisa was good to go. In my opinion, the hospital is more at fault than the police officers, who also could have used better judgment. MOO

I agree the officers trusted the medical professionals.
However, that was not a reason or an excuse to treat her the way they did. They straight up abused her.

I don't hold the LEOs entirely responsible for her death, as the hospital staffs played roles. But she clearly didn't need their brand of help, either.

Bottom line: she was older, she was overweight, she probably didn't have any money or insurance, and every person who was obligated to help care for her decided to disregard her complaints, dodge their responsibilities, and treat her with mocking derision.

Every one of them need to lose their jobs, at the very least.

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

A question occurred to me earlier: if she was NOT in police custody when they had her in the back of a patrol car, was she being kidnapped?