When Kindra Chapman’s death was uncovered, it unleashed yet another wave of protests against police brutality. Now her family has decided to put a stop to it. The 18-year-old black teen had hung herself with a bed sheet while in her cell in Homewood City jail in Alabama.
Chapman had been arrested for first-degree robbery after allegedly stealing a cell phone from another person on the street. After being processed on Tuesday around 6:30 p.m., she was found dead over an hour later when the staff performed a routine welfare check.
Chapman had been pronounced dead at a local hospital the same day.
Upon hearing the news of Chapman being found dead in her cell, and her mother, Kathy Brady , saying police killed her and covered it up, protests arose about police brutality. In today’s social climate, it is usually assumed that the death of a black person in the custody of authority is racially charged. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , there is a growing fear among the black community about death at the hands of authorities.
Following the death of 28-year-old Sandra Bland at the county jail in Hempstead, Texas, Chapman’s own death seemed a related coincidence. Bland had accused them of slamming her head into the ground and had been charged with assaulting an officer.
It seems the news of Kindra Chapman being found dead spurred her family to eventually tell the press that it had been the teen’s own choice, not spurred or caused by police brutality .
“We want the world to know what a wonderful soul she was. At the same time, we want the world to know that her death was a suicide. We have hired lawyers to investigate how this could have happened while she was in police custody. We are so grateful for the outpouring of support for Kindra. We are devastated that she is gone, and we miss her terribly.”
Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls said Thursday that he has so far “seen no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing in [her] arrest and detention.”
There has been no indication of violence involved in Kindra Chapman’s death or arrest. Unlike what has been alleged in the case of Sandra Bland , and Chapman’s mother’s own previous words, she was not killed in her cell.
Chapman’s family wants to make her suicide perfectly clear, and as stated above, have hired lawyers to look into what led to her suicide.
Death of Alabama teen Kindra Chapman shares unsettling similarities with death of Sandra Bland http://t.co/X1RvB7H9qf pic.twitter.com/15x86zRqfo
— Complex (@ComplexMag) July 24, 2015
It is currently unknown exactly what happened in the hour between police arresting Kindra Chapman and her death, but her family wants you to know “her death was a suicide.”
What do you think happened to cause Chapman to end her own life?
[Image via Carol Robinson / AL.com ]
