Being arrested shouldn't be a death sentence

[Andrew Thayer]

In the spring of 2004 a friend of mine, activist and mother May Molina of N. Halsted Street, was arrested by Town Hall District police and put in lock up.  Thanks to deliberate medical neglect by the Chicago Police Department, the next morning she was dead.

 

A community activist deeply involved in organizing against police misconduct, May had a number of serious medical issues, including hypertension, diabetes and what the New York Times described as "life threatening thyroid conditions," for which she took prescription drugs.  The stress of being under arrest and in police lock-up is hard on many people.  For someone who has hypertension, it can be deadly.

 

Through the night of May 24-25, 2004 a series of May's family members and her attorney went to the Town Hall Police Station, and later to the Belmont & Western Police Station to plead with the officers in charge to allow May to have access to her prescription medications.

 

But as the New York Times reported,

 

"She needed medications but there’s a rule against that in lockups. Awaiting a bond hearing, she was in custody for a day and a half, during which there were vivid signs of physical distress. Her lawyer urged that she be taken to a hospital, to no avail.

 

"There were 5 to 10 calls to the officer at the front desk from her friends, saying Ms. Molina needed medications.  The officer did nothing, and the city asserts in part that the officer wasn’t sure if callers might be lying, a posture the appeals court found “nonsensical.”

 

"Others in the lockup yelled out on her behalf, but nothing was done and, in the early hours of May 26, she died in her cell."

 

Next Tuesday, after more than nine years of legal battles and waiting, May Molina's family will finally have their day in court against the City of Chicago and its police department for denying May her prescription medications and causing her death. 

 

Please support May's family by coming to the opening arguments in the civil trial, 1 PM, Tuesday, October 8 in federal court, 219 S. Dearborn Street, Room 2201 (note that you will need to have picture i.d. and go through a metal detector).

 

Victory in this trial will of course not bring May back, but might save others.  The City of Chicago routinely denies prescription medications to the people held in its lock-ups, needlessly causing pain, ill-health and possible death. 

 

Whether you are a person living with HIV being denied your meds, a protester with medical issues, or someone whom police just don't take a liking to, it is ridiculous that the City maintains – and defends – this barbaric policy.  Please come to the courtroom on Tuesday and help put an end to this.

 

Thank you.

                       

Andy Thayer