What would’ve been Lauren Smith-Fields’ 24th birthday celebration was instead a day of protest to demand answers and justice in her mysterious death. Today, around 100 family members, friends and activists marched together in front the Bridgeport police station to march to Margaret E. Morton Government Center. There they protested. “Happy Birthday, Lauren” “Black Women Matter.”
“My daughter was a daddy’s girl,” Smith-Fields’ father, Everett Smith, said to the crowd. “To lose your daughter, your only daughter, your baby girl at the ripe age of 23 years old and to be treated the way we were treated by the Bridgeport police department is unacceptable. My daughter had a life, she traveled the world, she went to college and did tutorials on how to do hair and nails. She had a voice and that voice was stripped and the Bridgeport police station ain’t doing shit about it.”
Smith-Fields became unresponsive after a Bumble Date at her Apartment on December 12. Matthew Lafountain, a white male, found Smith-Fields not responding. Lafountain called the police reporting that Smith Fields was not responding and that she had been bleeding from her nose. Smith-Field’s family — who learned of her death days later, after finding a note from the landlord on the door — found a used condom with semen and an unidentified pill in her apartment. They have yet to receive information regarding the cause of her death, and they describe communication with detectives being unprofessional and sparse. (Lafountain was not charged with any crimes and is not a suspect. Rolling Stone (He was unable to reach him for comment.
The family is demanding answers from Bridgeport Police Department and are upset that they have not heard from city officials regarding the circumstances of Smith-Fields’ death. They also need an apology. Their frustration lies in the fact that Lafountain, the last person to see Smith-Fields was dismissed without being further questioned or investigated by police. They say the officers on the case have not been responding to their phone calls, and didn’t adequately examine evidence found at the scene of their daughter’s death. As of Friday, the family’s lawyer Darnell Crosland issued a letter to the Bridgeport City Clerk regarding their intent to sue.
“The police department has been racially insensitive to this family and has treated this family with no respect and has violated their civil rights,”Crosland wrote. “They have failed to investigate this matter, and they refuse to view the last person with Lauren Smith-Fields before she died as a person of interest. This behavior is unacceptable.”
Multiple requests from Bridgeport Police Department for comment have not been answered. Rolling StoneNBC News previously released a statement that stated: This investigation is still open and active. The Detective Bureau is awaiting the final report from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office for cause and manner of death of Ms. Smith-Fields. The Bridgeport Police Department offers it’s sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Lauren Smith-Fields. We encourage anyone with information regarding this incident to contact either Detective-Sergeant Joseph Morales at 203-581-5219 or the Bridgeport Police TIPS line at 203-576-8477.”
Another family at the protest — that of Brenda Lee Rawls 53, who died the same weekend as Smith-Fields — claim they were met with indifference by the Bridgeport PD after the untimely loss of a loved one.
“They treated my sister like a Jane Doe, like they found her on the side of the road with no identification,” said Dorothy Washington, Rawls’s sister. Similar to the Smith-Fields’ family, Rawls’s family say they received no notice or help from the Bridgeport police department.
“My family is very close and we don’t go a day without talking to each other. The last day we talked to Brenda was on Dec. 11,”Washington. “On the 12th, she said she was going to a friend’s home to visit after that, we heard nothing from her.”
After days of calling and texting, the sister went to the man’s home that Rawls said she was visiting. “The guy said ‘Brenda? Oh, she died Sunday,’”Washington. “‘A police officer and one coroner came to pick her up.’ My family called the hospitals, the police department and they knew nothing about her death.”
It wasn’t until the family contacted the Farmington Connecticut State Medical Examiner, that they found out where she was. Rawrs passed away Sunday. Her family claims they were informed Tuesday. An autopsy was already performed by the family when they became aware.
“They never called us for identification,”Washington. “We went down there on Friday of that week and the guy at the window gave us the wrong detective’s name. That detective called me back and gave me the right detective’s name. They never started on the investigation. They never quarantined that guy’s house or questioned him. Never quarantined my sister’s apartment. I called [the detective] four or five times, he never reached out.”(Bridgeport PD has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Smith-Fields’ mother wants to create a bill in Smith-Fields’ name that will create police accountability and for families to be notified within 24 hours of the death of a loved one.
Smith-Fields’ family and friends, dressed in her favorite colour, pink, launched pink balloons into space as a birthday celebration. The protesters were then invited to enjoy cake at a local cafe.
“Today would’ve been her 24th birthday. In a couple of days she would have been leaving to go to Greece to celebrate but now that was taken away from her,”Shantell Fields, Shantell’s mom, spoke out. “No one is going to disparage my daughter like she’s rubbish.”