{"id":71652,"date":"2022-01-24T07:42:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T02:12:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/lauren-smith-fields-family-protests-bridgeport-police-on-her-birthday\/"},"modified":"2022-01-24T07:44:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T02:14:04","slug":"lauren-smith-fields-family-protests-bridgeport-police-for-her-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/lauren-smith-fields-family-protests-bridgeport-police-for-her-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Smith-Fields Family Protests Bridgeport Police for Her Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
What would\u2019ve been Lauren Smith-Fields\u2019 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. \u201cHappy Birthday, Lauren\u201d \u201cBlack Women Matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter was a daddy\u2019s girl,\u201d Smith-Fields\u2019 father, Everett Smith, said to the crowd. \u201cTo 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\u2019t doing shit about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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\u2019s family \u2014 who learned of her death days later, after finding a note from the landlord on the door \u2014 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. <\/span>Rolling Stone <\/span><\/i>(He was unable to reach him for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n 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\u2019 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\u2019t adequately examine evidence found at the scene of their daughter\u2019s death. As of Friday, the family\u2019s lawyer Darnell Crosland issued a letter to the Bridgeport City Clerk regarding their intent to sue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe police department has been racially insensitive to this family and has treated this family with no respect and has violated their civil rights,\u201dCrosland wrote. \u201cThey 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Multiple requests from Bridgeport Police Department for comment have not been answered. <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i>NBC 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\u2019s Office for cause and manner of death of Ms. Smith-Fields. The Bridgeport Police Department offers it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n