After being “eaten alive” by bed bugs in his cell, the family of a guy being held in custody in Atlanta, Georgia, is demanding explanations. According to the police, LaShawn Thompson, 35, was detained in Atlanta on June 12 on a battery accusation.
“He did not deserve this”
The Fulton County Jail’s psychiatric wing was where he was brought after authorities discovered he had mental health problems. But Thompson passed just three months later. In a statement, Thompson’s attorney Michael D. Harper claimed that his client had been “eaten alive by bed bugs and insects” and was discovered dead in a detention cell. He said that the death was among the most horrific ones he had ever witnessed. “What Mr. Thompson was housed in was not fit for a diseased animal,” Harper said. “He did not deserve this.”
He had been in those terrible conditions “for months,” Harper said, and “no one cared”. “Someone has to be held accountable for his death,” he added. “The Fulton County Jail must be closed and replaced”. Thompson’s family has claimed that prison records show that although jailers and medical staff noticed that his condition was deteriorating, they did nothing to help. “They literally watched his health decline until he died,” the family said in a statement. Pictures from inside the cell show shocking conditions that Harper says were “unfit for a dog”.
Thompson’s cause of death is currently listed as “undetermined”
When a jail warder was requested to administer first aid to the dying guy, Harper claimed that she “freaked out” because of the number of bed bugs on his body. He claimed that the situation was so awful that she refused to even perform CPR when she discovered him. There was no visible physical evidence of trauma on Thompson’s corpse, according to a report from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, but there was a “severe bed bug infestation.” Thompson’s cause of death is currently listed as “undetermined”. There have been 16 recorded deaths in Fulton County Jail since 2020.
