According to their legal counsel, the home of Glenn Earl Smallwood Jr., a 33-year-old veteran of the U.S. Army who required immediate medical attention but instead was imprisoned and restrained until he was little more flexible, is suing for his demise.
The family’s attorney for legal rights, Erik Heipt, told McClatchy News in a statement that staff at the , Angelina County Jail , in Lufkin, Texas, ignored Smallwood’s apparent medical needs, violating their obligation to treat him with humanity.
According to Heipt of Budge &, Heipt PLLC, a law firm,” Glenn Smallwood was treated as if his life did not matter.” We are bringing this event to demonstrate that it did.
According to a federal complaint Heipt filed on the mother’s representative on April 29th, Smallwood was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in his adult years. The mental illness problem is thought to be a combination of mood disorder symptoms and dementia.
According to the lawsuit, Smallwood visited The , Burke Center, a mental health facility in Lufkin some days before being taken into custody on June 16, 2023.
Smallwood was having illness, hallucinations, and unmedicated, according to Heipt in a problem, so it was obvious to the hospital’s personnel that he needed a “higher level of care.”
According to the issue, staff members unintentionally attempted to move him to an inpatient facility, but Smallwood abruptly left as part of their effort to obtain a mental wellness warrant.
According to the lawsuit, local authorities that night discovered Smallwood in the area of a , Lufkin . According to the filing, two officers who witnessed Smallwood “behaving weirdly” should have advised him to get the treatment he needed, given the permit.
According to the lawsuit, the soldiers detained him after taking him to the state prison on a charge of public drunkenness.
According to the issue, guards placed him in a restraint seat in the doorway leading into the jail and fastened the straps to the victim. Smallwood finally began to vomit.
According to the issue, he continued to vomit and “in and out of consciousness” as his restraints were tightened.
McClatchy News received body-camera footage from officers that tracked him from his initial detention until restricted and taken into custody at the prison.
According to the lawsuit, the officers are captured laughing and smiling again Smallwood begins retching and then dissipating.
His brother, John Smallwood, claimed in a speech to McClatchy News that jail staff had” treated him worse than an animal.”
When my brother was stowed in a chair, diarrhea, and losing awareness, prison guards were laughing and making fun of me.
According to the problem, officers restrained Glenn Smallwood and wheeled him into the hospital’s booking area and placed him in a detox cell.
According to the filing, an entry-level nurse discovered him “limp and comatose” in his head in the battery. According to the issue, the nurse tried a chest rub to assess his responsiveness and allegedly didn’t wake him up.
According to the lawsuit, the nurses and officers failed to administer him with crisis care while he was dying.
Heipt claims he was left in the restriction head for nearly two hours before passing away.
Smallwood’s nephew revealed to McClatchy News that he was the father of three babies, whom he adored.
Glenn Smallwood Erik Heipt, Attorney ,
His family has filed a complaint against Southern Health Partners, the jail’s medical service, and the county sheriff’s office, Angelina County, and his community. The organization’s nurse, who previously worked for the jail, is also named as a respondent.
McClatchy News ‘ requests for comment, April 29; Angelina County Sheriff Tom Selman and Southern Health Partners didn’t immediately respond.
An “in-custody dying research” was completed, according to the complaint. The result is uncertain.
Smallwood’s martial and living
Heipt claimed in the complaint that Smallwood was born in Galveston and served in the Army National Guard while residing in andnbsp, Utah. Heipt claimed that he later returned to andnbsp, Texas.
An undated, provided photo of Glenn Smallwood Erik Heipt, Attorney ,
According to Heipt, Smallwood had two younger kids and their family living in Angelina County’s Huntington town the month he passed away.
John Smallwood told McClatchy News  that his nephew “was a great person with a nice personality.”
He was the kind of person who would do stuff for others without asking for anything in return, according to John Smallwood.
He said his brother was smart and that he was a fan of comic books and video games as well as “playing stupid activities.”
He adored our nation, family, and God, according to John Smallwood.
Family demands righteousness
It is believed that Glenn Smallwood” self-medicated” with meth before being arrested after he left the Burke Center on June 16, 2023, according to Heipt in the issue.
Smallwood “was insecure, confused, sweating, shaking, uncertain, and bleeding from his mouth,” according to the problem.
According to the problem, Smallwood was placed in a caution chair as part of the detention center’s “intoxicated” policy.
Heipt told , McClatchy News,” Any plausible explanation the prison guards had for immediately strapping him into the caution head evaporated when he began vomiting and losing consciousness.”
According to Heipt, Southern  and Health Partners are largely to blame for the prison nurse’s alleged failure to obtain Smallwood health care.
He doesn’t have died if the nurse and detention guards had intervened, according to the lawsuit.
A former criminal sued Southern Health Partners  for clinical negligence in a civil lawsuit brought against the business, which resulted in a$ 950,000 settlement, according to a report from WRDW-TV on October 2023.
Heipt claimed that the Smallwood community desires justice.
The complaint calls for a jury trial, compensation for damages, and other kinds of pleasure.
John Smallwood stated to McClatchy News  that his “brother is not the first person to die in that jail.”
” I want to make sure he’s the past,” he says.
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