Two Connecticut detectives have been placed on administrative leave over the handling of two Black women’s deaths, including Lauren Smith-Fields.
According to NBC News, two Bridgeport, Connecticut police detectives have been placed on administrative leave over how they handled the deaths of two Black women, Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls.
Smith-Fields, 23, was found unresponsive on Dec. 12 after a Bumble date with an older white man named Matthew LaFountain. LaFountain called the police after he said he woke up next to Smith-Fields, who was unresponsive and had a nosebleed. Her family believes the police department was “racially-insensitive” and negligent, saying officers didn’t contact them, but instead, the landlord reached out to them when Smith-Fields was found dead.
The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Smith Field’s death as an accident that was caused by acute intoxication due to a combination of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol, NBC News reports. Since then, the Bridgeport Police Department announced a criminal investigation was launched into her death; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will also be helping with the probe.
On the same day that Smith-Fields was found dead, 53-year-old Rawls was found dead at a Bridgeport residence. Like Smith-Fields’ family, Rawls’ family also says police officers never contacted them about her death and allegedly didn’t take her death seriously. NBC News reports details about her death are still unresolved.
In a Sunday news release, Mayor Joseph Ganim expressed his condolences to the women’s families, saying he was “extremely disappointed with the leadership of the Bridgeport Police Department and find actions taken up to this point unacceptable.” The women’s cases have now been reassigned within the department. “The Bridgeport Police Department has high standards for officer sensitivity especially in matters involving the death of a family member,” Ganim shared. “It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed.” Ganim adde that he will be working with the department’s police chief to “make appropriate changes” to the department’s policies for contacting family members regarding the deaths.
