Jail Death in Richmond Heights: City Attorney Talks Police Protocol

The death of Anna Brown in a jail cell represents an unusual situation, an attorney who represents the city said this week. He said the case has to do with her "obscure and complex" medical condition, not actions taken by the city's police.

Brown, 29, had received medical attention at several facilities including , the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday. Richmond Heights police arrested her there on suspicion of trespassing and took her to the jail in September "after a doctor said she was healthy enough to be locked up," the Post-Dispatch reported.

Officials thought she might have been using drugs, the article states. She later died from blood clots, and an autopsy found no drugs in her body.

"To my knowledge, the City of Richmond Heights police have never ever been accused of denying someone medical care or failing to provide medical care in a timely fashion," said Peter Dunne, a principal at Pitzer Snodgrass who represents the city in matters involving litigation.

He said a lawsuit has not been filed against Richmond Heights in the case.

More about Anna Brown on Patch:

From arrest to detention

In an interview with Patch, Dunne spoke in detail about the Brown case and how police typically respond to inmates who need medical attention

When suspects are first arrested, they are handcuffed to ensure that they are detained securely and that the arresting Richmond Heights police officer is kept safe, Dunne said.

"It's not necessarily comfortable, but it isn't intend to cause injury and doesn't cause injury," Dunne said. From there, suspects are taken to the city's jail, where they are held in a locked cell.

The Richmond Heights jail is located at 7447 Dale Ave. It contains multiple cells for men and women. There are roughly twice as many cells for men as for women, he said. As many as three or four people can be kept in a single cell, though there is frequently one person or no one in each.

The jailer or official operating the desk at the Richmond Heights Police Department monitors the cells using video surveillance.

"It's not a scary or a dark place," Dunne said. "It's actually a very well lit place except at night, when it's kept less well-lit for the security of the facility and the comfort of the people being detained there."

Addressing medical concerns in jail

Written policies guide the city's police in interacting with people in jail who claim to need medical attention, Dunne said.

"Generally speaking, Richmond Heights police and any police officer is guided first by their own impressions and evaluations and assessments as to whether or not a person requires immediate medical care," he said.

If an officer sees that someone needs immediate care, the jailed party is taken to get medical attention, or medical personnel are called to the jail.

At other times, the need for medical care may not be obvious, or an officer may not think care is needed right away, Dunne said. In those situations, officers are taught to take those people to a medical professional as quickly as circumstances allow.

The medical professional then determines whether the person in jail is fit to be confined in secure detention, a process known as a fit-for-confinement evaluation.

It's the same evaluation that Brown underwent before being taken to the Richmond Heights jail, Dunne said.

Comments on the Brown case

In the Brown case, police had to go on the hospital's medical expertise, Dunne said. He described the case as "a shame" and "unfortunate."

"No one at the city is happy about what happened," he said. "And we're frankly as mystified as anyone is about how it happened" that Brown could have been at "eminent risk of death within literally minutes" of being told that she was fit for confinement, he said.

Her death is not something that police expected or intended, Dunne said.

Brown's family has hired an attorney, the Post-Dispatch reported. An attorney told the paper that if the case is tried, the issue to decide will be whether SSM St. Mary's violated medical malpractice laws.