The family of Irene Chavez, a woman who died by apparent suicide while in police custody in Chicago, is suing the city and multiple officers after footage showing her interaction with authorities was released.
The Chicago Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA, in English), which investigates the event, published a series of videos and documents related to the death of Chávez on December 18.
According to the police, the 33-year-old woman died after “a suicide attempt” at the Police District Three Tactical Office. The official cause of death is still unknown. the Cook County medical examiner’s office told ABC News.
Chavez was arrested hours before her alleged suicide after an apparent confrontation with a security guard at a bar.
According to the videos and the police report, the woman disclosed to the arresting officers that she was a veteran of the US Army and that she suffered from post-traumatic stress, which is why she needed to see a therapist.
Some time later, at 3:20 am, she was found unconscious in her cell.
“The agents knew that Irene had mental health problems,” he told the ABC7 networkthe family’s lawyer, Andrew Stroth, of the firm Action Injury Law Group.
Chavez was locked in a room that had a barrier, considered by the lawyers as a risk for someone who wanted to harm themselves.
[En 2021 hubo un récord de acusaciones a policías involucrados en tiroteos mortales. Pero no todo el mundo ve progresos]
The agents reported that they found the woman with a shirt wrapped around her neck and in the videos it is seen how they perform first aid tasks, then she was transferred to the University of Chicago hospital where she died at 11:30 am.
According to the report, the agents reacted five minutes after the woman, who was screaming, fell completely silent.
His sister Iris told ABC7 on Tuesday that officers had failed to recognize someone in the midst of a mental breakdown.
“I look at the video and wonder why they’re not doing this instead? Why didn’t they do something else or why does he talk to you like that?” assured.
[“La mitad de la familia simplemente desapareció de la noche a la mañana”: la caótica respuesta a una llamada al 911 en Texas]
According to COPA, there is no surveillance video of the time of the place where the alleged suicide occurred. The last image of Chavez before receiving first aid is when she is transported to the station.
“At this time, there are no surveillance videos of Mrs. Chavez in the Tactical Office of Police District Three where the alleged suicide attempt occurred,” says the civil organization.
The group is not required to reveal the videos but they did so, according to their report, considering it a matter of “great public interest.”
Autopsy results are expected to be revealed in the coming months.
–
