Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

Family of woman who died in Los Angeles jail disputes coroner's suicide report

http://abc7.com/news/family-of-woman-who-died-in-la-jail-disputes-coroners-suicide-report-/1273367/

Family and friends demanded answers outside the Los Angeles Police Department's Metropolitan Detention Center Friday night after 36-year-old Wakiesha Wilson was found dead in her jail cell.

Coroner's officials say Wilson hanged herself, but her family says that makes no sense.

"I don't believe that, my daughter would not kill herself. It's not like this is the first time she's been incarcerated. No, she had too much to live for," said Wilson's mother, Lisa Hines.

Wilson had a 13-year-old son, and her family says she was not suicidal.

Her family last spoke to her on Easter morning. They say they went over details of her hearing, which was scheduled for Tuesday. She was expected to be released and told them she would call back later that night, but she never did.

"She planned on coming to my house. She told us to come to court because she was coming back home with me," Wilson's cousin, Quanesha Francis, said in tears.

Her family went to court Tuesday, but Wilson never appeared. After repeatedly trying to get an answer as to where Wilson was, her mother says she was given a number on Wednesday and was asked to call the coroner's office.

"They knew when I was at court. They knew Monday when I called. They knew Monday because she died Sunday," Hines said.

An attorney hired by Wilson's family, Jaaye Person-Lynn, says he wants to know why the department never notified her family and says there are serious questions about what may have happened prior to Wilson's death.

"We know there was some kind of disagreement with a detention officer or an LAPD officer. We know that after that disagreement she passed away," Person-Lynn said.

The attorney says Wilson was bipolar but believes that had nothing to do with her death. The LAPD says it can't comment on the ongoing investigation.