In response to the questionable deaths of Black women Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls, lawmakers have introduced a new measure that would change the timeframe in which police must inform a deceased person’s family.
Smith-Fields was found dead on December 12th after a date with a man she met on Bumble in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Lee Rawls was found deceased inside of a man’s home in the same city on the same day. By the time her family discovered she was dead, Lee Rawls was already in the morgue. In both cases, the families have slammed police for failing to notify them about the deaths. Smith-Fields’ mother, Shantell Fields, only found out about her daughter’s death a day after her body was found when she went to check on her.
Both women’s deaths have sparked widespread outrage and calls for more care to be taken in the cases of missing and murdered Black women. Lawmakers in Bridgeport have now proposed House Bill 5349. If passed, the measure would mandate police officers who discover a deceased person to notify their next of kin within 24 hours of identification. If officers do not conduct the notification within 24 hours, they must document why or face harsh penalties.
Democratic Rep. Steve Stafstrom penned the bill after hearing the concerns of Smith-Fields’ family. He slammed the Bridgeport Police Department for conducting a sub-par investigation into her passing. According to the family, they had to beg the department to collect evidence in the young YouTuber’s apartment.
“Frankly, the Bridgeport Police Department could have and should have done a little better outreach from the get-go, and this should be standard procedure by a police department. Clearly, there was a gap, and that’s why we thought the legislation was necessary to make the expectation abundantly clear,” Stafstrom stated.
An autopsy concluded that Smith-Field’s died from an accidental fentanyl overdose, while Lee Rawls died from cardiac arrest. However, the circumstances surrounding their deaths remain a mystery.
