Family demands answers after mother dies in police custody
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A family is searching for answers after a 59-year-old woman died in a Detroit jail after the air conditioning unit broke down.
Martha Stanley complained saying that she could hardly breathe after sweltering heat consumed the facility, reports Fox 2 in Detroit. Wayne County Jail officials said that Stanley died from cardiac arrest, but her son said she had a heart condition that that the jail refused to tend to.
“It was hot outside,” said Arthur Simpson, Stanley’s son. “I saw them take her. And within 48 hours later, she is dead inside the jail. What happened? That’s what I want to know.”
Simpson said his mother was on heart medicine and trying to detox from drug use. He said she called him to report that the jail didn’t have air and she was having difficulty breathing.
According to reports, another woman called to complain that her son was experiencing breathing trouble in the jail too.
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Simpson is demanding answers and accountability from police officers.
“When you have a weather condition and the cooling system in the jail isn’t working like it should be and it’s hot like that, and you have people with heat exhaustion, you can’t breathe right, what can you do?” Simpson said. “You ask them and you don’t get it, then what do you do.”
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office admits that there were some issues with the HVAC system and they are currently working to fix the system. They have denied that it played a part in Stanley’s death.
“She needed medical treatment and she didn’t get it clearly,” said Simpson.
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