Medical examiner rules Black Connecticut woman's death as natural
Brenda Lee Rawls, a Black Connecticut woman whose family has accused police of not treating her death seriously, died of natural causes, the state's chief medical examiner has ruled.
Rawls, 53, died Dec. 12 in Bridgeport, the same day as another Black Bridgeport woman, Lauren Smith-Fields.
The families of both women have accused police of failing to notify them of their deaths and insensitivity, prompting public outrage that culminated with two Bridgeport Police detectives overseeing their cases being placed on administrative leave in late January.
The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Rawls' death was natural. She died of cardiovascular disease with diabetes as a contributory factor, the Bridgeport Police Department announced Tuesday.
Police noted that Rawls' toxicology tests came back negative on Jan. 31 and the family was notified.
The police department said the detective bureau will officially close the case in wake of the ruling.
However, the attorney for the Rawls’ family, Darnell Crosland, is disputing the medical examiner’s conclusion.
“The family of Brenda Lee Rawls has reason to question the M.E. (medical examiner) report and we are continually disappointed with the way the City of Bridgeport and the State of Connecticut has shown a lack of value for Black lives,” he said in a statement, NBC Connecticut reported.
Rawls’ sister, Dorothy Rawls Washington, previously told NBC News that on Dec. 11 Rawls told her family she planned to go to the home of a male acquaintance who lived down the street. When they tried to reach her on Dec. 12 and 13, they were unsuccessful.
The family members went to that man’s home on the 14th. The man told them that he couldn’t wake her up on Dec. 12 and that she had died, Washington said.
She said no one ever notified the family that Rawls had died.
“We had to do our own investigation and find out where she was,” Washington said.
The family called around to funeral homes and eventually found out she was at the state medical examiner’s office.
“They never took any opportunity to look for next of kin,” Washington said of police. “The next time we saw our sister, she was in a funeral home.”
Crosland said in his statement on the medical examiner findings Tuesday, "While we do not have a physical copy of the M.E. report we are told it concludes the cause of death was cardiac arrest."
"We know that there are many causes of cardiac arrest, and the conditions attendant to Brenda Lee Rawls and the unnamed man that she was with has not been investigated thus leaving this family with more questions than answers,” he continued.
While Rawls' case will be closing, the investigation into Smith-Fields' death continues.
The 23-year-old was found unresponsive Dec. 12 in her Bridgeport apartment by a man she had met on Bumble, who called police to report that he had awakened to find her unresponsive with a nosebleed.
The family has accused the police department of being “racially insensitive,” saying they were not contacted by officers about her death but by the building’s landlord. The family’s attorney previously told NBC News the Bumble date is not a person of interest in the case. No charges have been filed.
Her death was an accident resulting from acute intoxication due to combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol. Following that announcement, the Bridgeport Police Department announced a criminal investigation into her death, assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The news comes after protesters marched through Bridgeport Saturday demanding police and government reforms, highlighting the cases of Rawls and Smith-Fields.
