‘She didn’t deserve to die the way she did.’ Questions surround woman’s death after police interaction during mental health crisis
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A woman stopped breathing while in Memphis police custody, and later died in the hospital.
But it wasn’t until two years later that the department asked the state to decertify two of the officers on the scene that day — a very serious request that would revoke their credentials needed to work in law enforcement in Tennessee.
The incident happened September 13, 2020. Officers trained to deal with mental health crises were called to an apartment where they found Nichole Clayborne, a young woman with schizophrenia.
“I don’t know if you have been around a schizophrenic. They become well aware of the characters that are not real,” Clayborne’s twin sister Natasha Bell said.
She believes that morning was like the others.
“I have talked Nichole down many times when she thought she was hearing things,” Bell said.
Police stated Clayborne “appeared to be in crisis” but was “non-violent.” They eventually left.
Eleven hours later, the same officers responded to a pet store bathroom where Clayborne was “yelling, singing and praying.” Police records state she was “incoherent, extremely disoriented and flailing her arms.”
Despite what they already knew about Clayborne and despite their previous de-escalation training, she was immediately handcuffed.
In the squad car, she became “stiff” and “unresponsive,” so an officer “poured ice and water on her from a personal drinking cup” and then administered “two doses of Narcan.”
When that didn’t work, they started CPR at first with her hands still cuffed behind her back.
She was then taken to St. Francis Hospital.
“As soon as I found out she was in critical condition, I dropped everything I was doing in San Francisco, and I flew straight into Memphis,” Bell said.
Clayborne died before she landed. Her family was shocked, heartbroken and confused.
“I know this was investigated by Internal Affairs. They have done their best to keep us out and not give us information,” Bell said.
Internal police documents state that a death report wasn’t taken until a day after Clayborne died, and that hospital staff didn’t even know she was in police custody.
Despite policy, the Homicide Bureau and Internal Affairs weren’t contacted from the scene. Crime scene never showed up to photograph the squad car for any possible evidence. In fact, Clayborne’s family had to request an autopsy.
We got a copy of the report. It noted “multiple contusions” and “scattered abrasions and scabs.” It stated Clayborne told officers that morning she “was taking her psychiatric medications,” but “no psychiatric medications were detected.”
The report noted Hepatic Cirrhosis, swelling and damage to the brain, multiple rib fractures and more. Her body was in “various stages of healing.”
The report concluded “based on all currently known and available information, the cause of death is best attributed to complications of chronic alcoholism,” and “the manner of death is natural.”
“Nichole struggled with mental health and a battle with alcoholism, but she didn’t deserve to die the way she did,” Bell said.
Bell said the report left her with even more questions, so we requested the body camera footage. MPD said it would cost us $804, because it would take 36 hours to make the required redactions.
We then requested footage from one officer and in October, agreed to pay $210 instead.
MPD said it will be ready on or before September 18, almost a year after we made the request.
We have been able to get internal investigative records that state four officers were called into question for their role that day. One was cleared and another received a written reprimand for turning off his body camera.
Lieutenant Freddie Romero was questioned for not following protocol like making sure the paperwork was complete, contacting the proper departments and allowing an officer to leave the hospital.
Officer Keith Snyder, only in the field for 23 days, was accused of failing to immediately render CPR and not repositioning the handcuffs.
Both resigned before they could be disciplined. MPD never sent the case to the district attorney’s office to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing, because they say there were no allegations nor any officers were found to have used force.
They did, however, notify the state’s policing board almost two years later requesting Snyder and Romero be decertified, so they can no longer work in law enforcement in Tennessee.
“How come such a delay on that?” asked one board member.
“I don’t know,” an MPD representative responded.
“We need things to be more organized. If you are seeking a decertification on somebody, this goes for any agency, that needs to be done sooner rather than later,” stated another board member.
They also wanted more information.
“So for a span of eight minutes, there were several officers around and no one jumped in to help her, so is that what we are kind of looking at?” one board member asked.
MPD can provide any documentation it wants to support its case, but it didn’t turn over any video or the autopsy report. It didn’t even send a representative to the hearing who handled the internal investigation.
The only person able to answer questions was Snyder. He showed up with a representative from the new police department he’s working for. Last he heard, he was praised for his work.
“I do remember them telling us how good we had done,” Snyder said. “I had no insinuation that I had done anything wrong or anything that I had been investigated.”
Snyder told the board he only resigned because his family moved to a new city.
As for Romero, a family emergency reportedly kept him from being at the meeting. One board member asked where he was currently employed.
“I believe he’s an investigator with the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office,” said another member.
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Because the board had too many questions, it voted to take no action and allowed both officers to keep their certification.
MPD stated, “The course of the internal investigation, including hearings, took a little over a year. Once the hearings were complete, the file was turned over to ISB. Once ISB receives a file back, they go over everything in the file and determine whether to request decertification.”
They also said during that time, “there were ISB command staff changes taking place due to retirement, which likely delayed the process as well, as a new commander was taking over ISB.”
MPD said they established “new procedures to ensure decertification requests are made more expeditiously in the future.”
“You can see why there’s a lack of trust,” attorney Jake Brown said.
He has represented citizens who’ve filed police misconduct cases before. He questions the lack of support behind such a serious request.
“In the wake of the Tyre Nichols’ incident, Chief Davis said that MPD would be getting more proactive about seeking decertifcataion,” said Brown. “If the city is referring these but in name only, right? If they are not giving the POST people what they need to determine and evaluate referrals, there’s a problem.”
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Bell said she submitted her sister’s case to the Department of Justice, which currently has an open civil rights investigation into MPD. Last month, the feds thanked her for the information.
“I still can’t hardly believe it,” Bell said.
Clayborne was only 35 years old. She was known for her loving and fun spirit.
“She’s not just my sister, she’s my twin. She had a son. She shouldn’t be dead.”
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