A Connecticut mayor has ordered two police officers placed on administrative leave amid scrutiny over the alleged mishandling of investigations of the deaths of two Black women.
According to family members, investigations into the deaths of Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, and Brenda Lee Rawls, 53, both on 21 December, were mishandled by officers who did not investigate in a timely manner or notify relatives.
Smith-Fields was found unresponsive in her apartment after a date with a man she met through the dating app Bumble. The man, who is white and whose name has not been released as he has not been charged with a crime, called 911.
Police did not notify Smith-Fields’s family. When she did not respond to text messages or calls, her mother and brother drove to her apartment. They found a note on her door reading: “If you’re looking for Lauren, call this number.”
Smith-Fields’s landlord subsequently told her family about her death and passed on the number of the detective assigned.
When Smith-Fields’s family asked officers about the man who was with her, her mother told the New York Times, the investigating detective said not to worry and that “he’s a really nice guy”.
Amid widespread outrage, a medical examiner said Smith-Fields died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl combined with prescription medication and alcohol. The acting Bridgeport police chief, Rebeca Garcia, said police were now focusing on “the factors that led to her untimely death”.
Confirmation of the cause of Rawls’s death is pending, according to the Connecticut chief medical examiner. She was reportedly found unresponsive by an acquaintance who said her body was taken by police and coroner’s officials.
Family members were not notified directly by law enforcement. After calls to police, hospitals and funeral homes, the state medical examiner, who had already performed an autopsy, confirmed her death.
“It’s almost like they’re not aware of her death, or they just don’t care and that made us angry,” Dorothy Washington, Rawls’s sister, told CNN. “She was raised and born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, paid her taxes, voted and they treated like she was nothing. Like she was roadkill.”
On Sunday, Joseph Ganim, the mayor of Bridgeport, shared his condolences with the families of the two women. He was, he said, “extremely disappointed with the leadership of the Bridgeport police department”.
Ganim also called for disciplinary action against the two officers, “for lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police policy”.
“The Bridgeport police department has high standards for officer sensitivity, especially in matters involving the death of a family member,” Ganim said. “It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed.
“To the families, friends and all who care about the human decency that should be shown in these situations in this case by members of the Bridgeport police department, I am very sorry.”
Bridgeport police did not immediately comment.
