Fort Worth woman in coma, covered in bruises after taken to jail instead of hospital

A Fort Worth woman with a form of epilepsy that rendered her unable to communicate effectively was taken to Tarrant County Jail instead of a hospital after a relative called 911 and is now in a coma, her body covered with large bruises that authorities can’t explain.

Kelly Masten, who is 38 but has the mentality of a 6-year-old, spent 10 days in the jail, where her family believes she was not administered the medication she needs.

“She should have never been taken to jail, she shouldn’t have spent 10 days in jail,” said her sister, Kristina Salinas.

Masten had been recovering from a severe seizure when on April 11 she bit her grandmother and legal guardian, Peggie Griggs.

Griggs called 911 around 10 p.m. to report the bite. Griggs told the four Fort Worth officers that her granddaughter needs constant medication for her lifelong fight with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, which causes almost daily seizures that can rob oxygen from her brain. She also explained that while Masten is an adult, doesn’t function like one.

The officers told her they would take Masten to the jail where she would have a medical evaluation, then Masten would be taken to John Peter Smith hospital within a few hours, she said.

But Masten wasn’t taken to the hospital until April 21.

When Masten eventually arrived at JPS, her body was covered in saucer-sized bruises. She had a black eye and a bleeding lip, according to photos that were provided to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Masten’s family.

Salinas, who spoke to the Star-Telegram on Tuesday, said her sister wasn’t covered in bruises when she was arrested. She said she has spoken with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office numerous times.

The Sheriff’s Office confirmed in an emailed statement that it is investigating what happened during the time Masten was incarcerated.

“During the time she was in our facility Masten was housed in single cells and monitored,” the statement from spokesperson Robbie Hoy said. “According to our records, there are at least 20 interactions with medical personnel between April 12-April 21, 2022. Detention officers also conducted regular checks on Masten.”

What happened during those 10 days in jail?

The bruises on Masten’s body cover her legs and thighs. There’s one the size of a plate on her left arm. Her face is peppered with smaller bruises and cuts.

Masten can’t tell her family what happened during the 10 days she was in jail. She’s on a ventilator and has little brain activity, her sister said. But based on her bruising, a conversation with a woman who was in the cell next to her and a visit from her father, the family can only guess that she had repeated seizures while she was locked up.

Both times Danny Masten was able to visit his daughter, he could only talk to her through a webcam while she was in a cell, he said. She wore a jumpsuit and he couldn’t see her body or bruises.

The woman who was in the cell next to Masten was visible during Danny’s visit and could hear what he was saying. She called out for Danny Masten’s attention and they spoke.

“She said Kelly had fallen and hit her head,” Danny Masten told the Star-Telegram. “I told her she had seizures all the time and needed to be medicated.”

The other woman yelled her inmate number to Masten and he called her later that day. She told him the jailers attempted to give his daughter medications, but she refused.

Danny Masten said his daughter wouldn’t have been able to take them on her own. She can’t shower, eat or drink on her own. She doesn’t know how to use a phone or ask for help.

“Kelly needed to be in a facility with 24-hour care given the vitalness of her medications,” Salinas said. “If she refused to take her medication, then an IV needed to be administered. Without medication, her brain goes haywire.”

During the second visit, Danny Masten said he witnessed his daughter seize. From the waiting room where he watched her through the webcam, he called out for help.

“Can’t y’all see she’s having a seizure right now?” he yelled.

But he didn’t see anyone helped her.

“The lady who was there at the jail said she tried to give her medication and I said you have to coax her,” Danny Masten said.

An investigator from the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office told Salinas that state law prevents jails from forcing inmates to take medications. Salinas says that proves her sister shouldn’t have been there.

The way Masten behaved on camera led her father to believe that the seizure he witnessed wasn’t the only one to occur.

The bruising tells its own story, the family says.

Some bruises suggest her sister seized and hit herself on the concrete floor or metal furniture, Salinas said. The bruising on Masten’s inner thighs and arms tells her that someone might have held her down during a seizure. No one has been able to confirm that.

The Sheriff’s Office said there’s nothing at this time to indicate anything criminal occurred.

From the jail to the hospital

When Salinas got the call from her grandmother that Masten was in jail, she called the Sheriff’s Office, the district attorney and courts to get information.

She was officially booked early April 12; a complaint charging Masten with domestic abuse was filed with the Tarrant County clerk two days later, according to records. Masten wasn’t given a court-appointed attorney until April 18, records show.

A bond wasn’t set until the next day, when Salinas called the attorney and demanded her sister’s release.

Salinas and her husband, who live in Mississippi, drove to Fort Worth and went to the jail to bond Masten out on the 21st. They were given a four-hour window for when Masten would be let go. Salinas asked the jail to give her a more accurate time, because she needed to be there.

“I explained that you can’t just let her out the door because that’s like letting a child out in downtown,” Salinas said. “So my husband and I slept outside the jail and waited for her to come out.”

At the end of that window, when they still hadn’t seen Masten, Salinas went back inside and learned that her sister was taken to JPS just after 1 a.m.

“No one told us,” she said.

It was then that Salinas learned her sister’s name and date of birth were wrong in the jail’s system.

The police report and court documents list her name as “Kelly Maston.” Her date of birth is listed as Sept. 16, not the 13th.

“I believe when the jail looked up her medical history they couldn’t find it because her name and birthday were wrong,” Salinas said.

She then learned that Masten had been taken to JPS earlier, on April 13, but then she was taken back to the jail.

“Her neurologist is at JPS, they have her medical history,” Salinas said. “But if they’re looking her up by the wrong name, of course it’s not going to pull up.”

Salinas said her sister was failed by every part of the system.

First with the police, who took her to jail instead of JPS. The department said in a statement that officers are able to take medical patients to the hospital, but the family didn’t specifically ask for medical care for either Masten or her grandmother.

The Sheriff’s Office failed Masten by booking her and not making sure she received proper medication, Salinas said, and JPS failed by not notifying the family when Masten was taken to the hospital either time.

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s office said the charge against Masten was dropped Wednesday.

Hearing the news, Salinas cried.

“That’s one obstacle down,” she said.