Woman Dies In Police Custody After Being Denied Medical Care

Woman dies in police custody after being evicted from a Knoxville TN hospital for no insurance. I came across this video yesterday in a tweet. Further searching revealed the full bodycam video (1:16) in length released by Knoxville Police is gut-wrenching to watch and I did just that. 60-year-old Lisa Edwards went to the hospital thinking she was having a stroke and had a broken ankle. She was diagnosed with constipation and discharged. When Edwards refused to leave Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center the hospital called the police who arrested her. Police tried getting her into a paddy wagon but with a broken ankle could not get up into the jail transport van. Cops discussed how to transport Edwards to jail using some foul language at times. It was decided to manhandle her into the back seat of a squad car. On the way to jail, Edwards became unresponsive in the police car. Police then drove Edwards back to the Hospital which put her on life support, and soon afterward she passed away of A STROKE! 😥

Knoxville, TN. Knoxville police released videos on Thursday of the in-custody death of 60-year-old Lisa Edwards, whom officers didn’t believe when she warned them she was having a stroke as they arrested her outside a hospital (video below). Edwards was discharged from the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center at about 7 a.m. on Feb. after having spent the night there because she was suffering abdominal pain after being diagnosed with constipation at Blount Memorial Hospital, WVLT reported. When she refused to leave the hospital complex, security called the police to evict her from the property.

The officer who was transporting Edwards stopped to respond to a reckless driver en route to the jail and that was when he discovered that his prisoner was unresponsive, according to video from inside the patrol vehicle. Officers took her back to the medical center where she was placed on life support and later died. The attorney’s office investigated and determined that Edwards had indeed died of a stroke!

My thoughts are, this is disgusting. Everybody in America is entitled to medical care whether they can afford it or not. To be having a stroke and be misdiagnosed because she was elderly and obviously with no insurance is poor but that’s no excuse. As for the police officers involved, I’m sure they have to deal with the homeless and otherwise those who live in poverty. It’s my opinion that Lisa Edwards was stereotyped as just another bum on the street and that’s how police often deal with that class of people. Well, this time they were wrong and tormented this retiree as she pleaded with them to take her back into the hospital, and died in custody. It’s sad that she was mistreated but is now in God’s loving arms! 🙏