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Both Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls’ families continue to seek justice and ask that the Bridgeport Police Department be held accountable.
Smith-Fields, 23, and Rawls, 53, are both Black women who died in unrelated incidents on Dec. 12 in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The families of both women claim local police have mishandled the individual cases and didn’t properly notify them about their loved ones’ deaths.
RELATED CONTENT: “Lauren Smith-Fields’ Family Accuses Bridgeport Police Of Covering Up Evidence To Protect Suspect: ‘They Did Nothing!'”
In an effort to get answers, the women’s family members spoke out on Tuesday (Feb. 15) and demanded Acting Bridgeport Police Chief Rebeca Garcia be replaced.
Moreover, the families also requested that the police commissioner and mayor send a formal letter to the Department of Justice, asking that the federal agency take over the investigations of Smith-Fields and Rawls’ deaths.
“What are you going to do to change this situation? How are you going to move forward handling how you handle Black women, Black people, People of Color,” said Shantell Fields, Lauren Smith-Fields’ mother, on Tuesday. “I want you to know, the whole world is watching how the Bridgeport Police Department is handling this case.”
“I want it done right, and I do not believe Bridgeport Connecticut Police Department can do that. I don’t think they’re competent,” added Dorothy Washington, one of Brenda Lee Rawls’ sisters.
“Why did the police department treat us like trash?” Washington asked, according to WTNH News 8.
Attorney Darnell Crosland, who is representing both families, added: “If we need [the] DOJ to come in here to figure out what’s happening in Bridgeport [then] we’re going to do that, and I think the commission should be on our side.”
In response to the statements made, Mayor Joe Ganim said in part: “I am reaffirming my continued commitment to get the answers that they deserve, and so that they may each properly grieve the loss of their valued family member and loved one.”
As MADAMENOIRE detailed in previous coverage earlier this month, Smith-Fields was found unresponsive in her bed by a white man she met on Bumble and spent time with the evening she died named Matthew LaFountain. A medical examiner’s report later revealed that Smith-Fields passed away from an accidental overdose.
Rawls was found dead at a male acquittance’s apartment. Her family didn’t learn about her death until they asked the unidentified male the 53-year-old was with the evening of Dec. 12, and he told them she’d become unresponsive and later died. Read more about the cases down below.
RELATED CONTENT: “Connecticut Police Officers Placed On Leave After Mishandling Lauren Smith-Fields & Brenda Lee Rawls Investigations”
