Lauren Smith-Fields.Photo: Lauren Smith-Fields/Instagram
The family of Lauren Smith-Fields wants answers.
It has been more than a month since the 23-year-old student was found lifeless on the floor of her Bridgeport, Conn., apartment, and her relatives are alleging the city’s police failed to adequately investigate her death.
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Police have not released the man’s name. They say he is the one who called 911 after realizing her nose was bleeding and she had stopped breathing, according to the incident report.
“They wanted us to forget about our daughter, their sister, our loved one,” explained Smith-Fields' mother, Shantell Fields,while speaking to WNBC. “They thought they were just going to throw her away like she was garbage, like she wasn’t important, like she didn’t have family members who loved her. We’re fighting for her.”
Smith-Fields' brother, Lakeem Jetter, also spoke to the station, and said the police department’s response to his sister’s death was “careless.”
Jetter alleges the police didn’t even contact them after finding Lauren’s body, and that they failed to collect numerous items of evidence — including a sedative pill and a used condom — from her apartment.
“I feel like because he’s a white guy and she’s a Black girl, they’re just throwing it under the rug,” Jetter said, further alleging police told his family they wouldn’t be investigating Lauren’s date, saying “he seemed like a nice guy.”
Bridgeport Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Hundreds marched in Bridgeport on Sunday — what would have been Lauren’s 24th birthday — demanding justice for the young woman.
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Darnell Crosland, the family’s attorney, has filed a notice of claim with Bridgeport, alerting them of his intent to sue the city “in an effort to obtain due process.”
It adds that the city’s police have “failed to investigate this matter, and they refuse to view the last person with Lauren Smith-Fields before she died as a person of interest. This behavior is unacceptable.”
PEOPLE was unable to identify and locate the man for comment Monday.
A GoFundMe campaignhas been established to help the family in its ongoing legal battle.
source: people.com
