Anna Brown: How Did A Homeless Woman Die In Police Custody?
Last September, Anna Brown, a homeless woman, died while in a jail cell after refusing to leave a St. Louis hospital. The woman was there seeking treatment for a sprained ankle and was arrested when she would not leave the building.
Brown, 29, had been complaining of leg pain for the last week, reported the Washington Post. After refusing to leave the third hospital she had sought treatment at, police wheeled her out in cuffs for trespassing. The L.A. Times reports that police left her on the concrete floor. Fifteen minutes after being placed in her cell, a worker found her dead.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, an autopsy revealed that Brown's death was a result of a blood clot. The clot had migrated from her legs to her lungs, killing her.
An officer said that they had believed the woman to be a drug seeker, but the autopsy found no drugs in her system, reported the Los Angeles Times.
Brown was a mother of two, but had previously lost custody of her children. Her family, who has now hired a lawyer, are seeking answers to her death.
If the police killed my daughter, I want to know, said Dorothy Davis, Anna Brown's mother. If the hospital is at fault, I want to know. I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn't here.
According to the Washington Post, no lawsuit has been filed.
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