by: GISSELE GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
Another Black Family has come forward regarding the Bridgeport police in Connecticut, failing to contact them after their loved one passed away. Brenda Lee Rawls and Lauren Smith-Fields died the same day in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Bridgeport police did not contact either of their families or property to investigate their deaths.
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Breda Lee Rawls, died on Dec 12th. Rawls’ family called hospitals, funeral homes, and the police department after neighbors told them they had not heard from her. Dorothy Washington, Rawls’ sister, decided to visit where Rawls last was, the home of a man she was acquainted with. He told her Rawls had died Sunday and mentioned that a police officer and coroner had already been contacted. Yet, police never notified Rawls’ family of her passing nor questioned the man about her death. Two days after her death on Tuesday, the family confirmed her body at the Medical Examiner’s Office, where an autopsy had been conducted. The autopsy results have not yet been disclosed, and her death is still an ongoing investigation.
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“They treated my sister like a Jane Doe, like they found her on the side of the road with no identification..”
“They never started on the investigation. They never quarantined that guy’s home or questioned him. Never quarantined my sister’s apartment. I called [the detective] four or five times, he never reached out.”
- Dorothy Washington, Rawls’ sister
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Lauren Smith-Fields was found unresponsive in her apartment after meeting with a Bumble date. Lauren’s family did not receive any notice concerning her death from the police. Police also did not initially question the man from her Bumble date. Lauren’s death, at first, was ruled as an “accident” but is now being criminally investigated by Bridgeport’s Police Narcotics and Vice Division assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
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Mayor Joseph P. Ganim suspended Detective Kevin Cronin and Detective Angel Llanos from their duties and placed them on administrative leave. Detective Llanos supervised the Rawls case and overlooked Detective Cronin, who worked on the Smith-Fields case. Both detectives may also face potential disciplinary action for their “lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police procedure for both cases.”