Another black woman has fallen victim to the injustices and cruelty of the United States Corrections system.
Ta’Neasha Chappell’s family is asking for justice after she was killed while in the custody of an Indiana jail.
Chappell- who was being held on charges stemming from an alleged theft and high-speed chase—died July 16, less than two hours after being taken from the county jail to the Schneck Medical Center.
For hours, The 23-year-old pleaded with the staff of an Indiana jail for medical care. She repeatedly vomited blood, became dehydrated, and asked to be taken to the hospital several times.
On Thursday’s episode of Roland Martin Unfiltered, the family of Ta’Neasha Chappell shared the disturbing last words of their loved one while she was in custody. Martin also shared the heartbreaking audio recording of Chappell crying out for help while guards disregard her.
Ronesha Murrell, Chappell’s sister, said Ta’Neasha called from the county jail a few times concerned for her safety. “The first time she called me, she was crying saying she needed to get out of there and she’s scared she’s gonna be on the news. She tried to warn us,” Murrell said.
She continued, “In the second phone call, she was asking us to ‘please get her out of there because they’re going to kill her.’ And she said we’ll be playing this phone call back and praying to figure out what happened to her.”
The recordings from the jail show Chappell desperately calling out for help around 1:33 a.m on July 16 while the guards on duty grew more irritated with her cries. “I don’t know what you want me to do unless you’re coughing up something crazy,” a guard said.
“I spoke to the sergeant, and he said that the nurse will see you in the morning,” one jail employee said at 3:12 a.m.
About five hours later, another woman called on Chappell’s behalf, saying “she can’t get up.”
Within the hour, Chappell again phoned for help, saying she was vomiting.
At 9:55 a.m., a recording captured Chappell repeatedly moaning, “I need help.” There’s no response from jail staff on that clip.
“What we didn’t see is by 11 am, she has exited her cell, she stumbles and tries to call on the box by hitting the intercom, but she’s so disoriented that she’s hitting a metal box on the wall that is not the intercom,” said Sam Aguirre, the family’s attorney.
“She collapses on the ground. She is naked, other than in underwear that she has filled with her own waste that is green. And then you have officers that take ten minutes to respond and then stand over her for 10 minutes before they force her to go back to her cell and lock her down.”
Another prisoner tried to get correctional officers to help Chappell at 11:56 a.m. because she couldn’t notify them. “Well, if she needs something, she’ll have to hit the button,” the female employee replied.
Chappell asked for help twice more in the next hour, at times speaking too faintly or incomprehensibly to understand.
Staff eventually called EMS to the jail, where they found Chappell “lying the cell floor,” at 3:26 p.m., WMS took Chappell to Schneck Medical Center at 3:52 p.m., and she died there less than two hours later.
After five months of investigation, Lavita McClain, Ta’Neasha’s mother, said they ruled Chappell’s death undetermined, and the autopsy concluded her daughter was poisoned. “The investigation is closed,” said Aguirre.
Chappell was arrested and thrown into a county jail – 50 miles from the city jail where she was supposed to be – for two months on a shoplifting charge, with a $50,000 bond. According to the family, the bond was lowered to $4,000.
“These are classic, federal, civil rights violations on a criminal level, and the best thing that we can do right now is put collective pressure on federal authorities to open up the case and look into this. To look at all the law agencies involved because this is a ‘sham investigation,'” Aguirre said.
In one of the audio recordings, Chappell is on the phone with her mother sharing the disturbing comment a police officer made to her. “You know what a cop just told me yesterday? He asked me, ‘do you know the easiest way to get away with murder?’ he said ‘be a cop.'”
At one point, Chappell also said she wanted to be on camera because she was afraid something might happen to her while in jail.
“I need Jackson county to be exposed, and I need them to be held accountable for what they did to my daughter. I don’t want this to happen to nobody else,” McClain said.
It’s been seven months since Chappell’s death, and no progress has been made on the case.
To hear the Roland Martin Unfiltered interview with the Chappell family see the link below and begin listening at 1:06.
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Did your sister beg for medical attention? Was your sister poisoned? Is that your sister’s voice?