A 60-year-old woman died of a stroke in police custody after officers accused her of acting, mocking

2023-02-28T10:07:16Z

A woman died in police custody after officers didn't believe she was ill and ignored her calls for help.
Lisa Edwards, 60, died of a stroke on February 6, the district attorney's office said.
Body camera footage shows officers scolding and mocking Edwards while she was in distress.

A wheelchair-bound 60-year-old woman died of a stroke in police custody after officers believed she was faking an illness.

Recently released body camera footage of the February 5 incident in Knoxville, Tennessee, shows several officers mocking the now-deceased Lisa Edwards even as she told them she had difficulty breathing.

The footage shows how officers swore at Edwards as she lay in distress on the ground, telling her multiple times to stop what they said was an act.

Her family now says the officers were negligent and failed to respect Edwards' basic human needs.

Edwards was taken into custody at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center on February 5 after spending the night there, the Knoxville District Attorney's office said on Monday.

She had complained of abdominal pain and was diagnosed with constipation, and after being observed overnight was discharged at around 7 a.m., the DA's office said.

But Edwards — who needed a wheelchair because she had previously suffered a stroke — refused to leave after being discharged, and hospital security called the Knoxville Police Department, per the DA's office.

Several officers arrived and arrested Edwards for trespassing, calling for a police wagon to take her to jail.

Officers arrive on the scene

The officers are initially cordial with Edwards, holding her by her arms and guiding her to the wagon. But she could not enter the wagon fully and lay against the entrance of it, breathing heavily, body camera footage shows.

"I can't, I can't," Edwards says repeatedly in the footage.

"Ma'am, listen, you're going to have to get up there, because we're going to have to physically put you up there if not, and that's not nice, so please help us help you," one officer said, per the footage.

Edwards, visibly struggling to breathe, then asks for an inhaler, which one of the officers digs through her purse to look for. The officers comment that they found cigarettes in her purse.

They make multiple attempts to help Edwards into the wagon, but she collapses on the floor of the passenger cabin each time.

Body camera footage shows officers mocking and swearing at Edwards

The officers then started mocking, berating, and swearing at Edwards, with one officer calling her "dead weight."

"Do you want a cigarette?" an officer asks Edwards, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, the footage shows.

Edwards eventually lies on the ground outside the wagon, and tells officers that she can't breathe and is going to have a stroke, the footage shows.

As the officers discuss how to respond to Edwards' distress, they say she is faking a condition.

"My problem with me is that, I know it's all an act," one of the officers can be heard saying.

"Well, we all know that shit," another officer responds. "But unfortunately, if she goes over and can't breathe —"

"That act's going to turn into a problem," a third continues.

"She's saying she can't breathe," one officer told another. "If she falls over either way and she can't breathe, if she dies, that's on me. I'm not willing to take that risk."

'She's not responding'

The officers eventually called a police cruiser and moved Edwards into the car, where she reclined across the rear seats.

"Shut up," an officer tells Edwards as he closes the cruiser door.

Rearview camera footage of the cruiser shows Edwards wheezing and groaning as the car leaves the medical center.

The car later stops, and the driver realizes Edwards is no longer conscious. "She's not responding," he yells to the officers in the police wagon.

"I don't know if she's faking it or what, but she's not answering," the officer says. The footage does not show what happened after.

Edwards was taken back to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, and was placed on life support. She died the next day. Her autopsy showed that Edwards died of a stroke, meaning the DA's office will not press criminal charges against the officers.

"Specifically, Ms Edwards was not beaten by the police, she was never subdued, there was no physical struggle between law enforcement and Ms Edwards, and there was no restraint asphyxia," it said.

Four officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave, a Knoxville Police Department spokesperson told CBS affiliate WLTV.

Outrage from Edwards' family

August Boylan, Edwards' daughter-in-law and a nurse, told CBS and ABC affiliate WJHL that Edwards was physically disabled due to her first stroke in 2019, but that she was mentally sound.

Edwards' slurred speech and difficulty breathing were clear signs she was suffering a stroke during the incident with police, Boylan told the outlet.

"That is not somebody working themself up like they said in there. That is not somebody faking it. She, I mean, she said it herself, that she was dying, that she was having a stroke," said Boylan.

She acknowledged that the officers may not have intentionally harmed Edwards, but said they "definitely were negligent and had no respect for human life, any basic needs, anything."

Edwards' son, Tim Boylan, told the outlet he had not watched the video, but was aghast at how his mother was treated.

"If I treated someone the way they treated her, I'd be in jail right now heading to prison," he said, per WJHL. "Why are they not? I have no idea."

In a statement to Insider, Knoxville District Attorney General Charme P. Allen said: "Prosecutors are specifically prohibited from bringing charges based on passion or prejudice so while the actions of the officers are appalling, the medical examiner determined that those actions did not contribute to Mrs. Edwards' death."

The Knoxville Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

March 1, 2023: This story was updated to reflect comment from the Knoxville District Attorney General.

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