‘Might Throw Up If I See That Again’: Texas Officers Mocked and Laughed at Black Veteran Who Died After Jail Ignored Him While He Was Restrained for Public Intoxication Arrest
After he was arrested on a misdemeanor public intoxication charge in July 2023, 33-year-old Glenn Smallwood Jr. was taken into custody at the Angelina County Jail in Lufkin, Texas, where his family claims in a federal lawsuit, obtained by Atlanta Black Star, that he was left to die amid a “readily apparent” “medical and mental health crisis.”
A nurse and a sheriff’s lieutenant are among those named in the suit, filed Tuesday. They are accused of failing to get Smallwood the necessary help and treating him with relative indifference, if not outright contempt.
As seen on an officer’s body camera, guards were “smiling, laughing, and joking in reaction to Mr. Smallwood’s sickness.” At this point, Smallwood is vomiting while strapped to a restraint chair. One officer is quoted in the lawsuit, “in jest” that “I might throw up if I see that again, man, I can’t.”
Smallwood’s brother, John Smallwood, in a statement to McClatchy News, said guards “treated him worse than an animal.”
“It’s disturbing to me that jail guards were joking and laughing when my brother was strapped in a chair, vomiting and losing consciousness,” he continued.
The Army veteran and father of three young children had arrived at the jail in a state of distress, according to the lawsuit, which states he was “paranoid, confused, sweating, shaking, unsteady, and bleeding from his mouth.”
He was arrested after staff at the Burke Center, a mental health facility where he had previously been treated, alerted authorities that Smallwood was “in a state of active psychosis.” Staffers there had attempted to have him “involuntarily transferred” to a hospital for inpatient treatment. But Smallwood left the facility as they were finalizing paperwork.
According to the suit, it was believed that Smallwood “self-medicated” with methamphetamine, which can “exacerbate the psychotic symptoms.”
The Burke Center had issued a mental health warrant for Smallwood. But instead of taking him to the hospital for treatment, Lufkin police took him to jail after he was spotted “behaving bizarrely.”
Per Angelina County policy regarding intoxicated detainees, Smallwood was strapped in a slightly reclined chair while he sobered up. That positioning made it harder for him to breathe, the suit maintains, and he became “listless.”
But instead of seeking help, guards tightened the restraints and wheeled him into a “detox” holding cell.
“Before shutting the door, guards heard him retching and moaning and saw him lose consciousness,” the complaint alleges.
The complaint says a nurse, who is described as “entry-level” with a “limited scope of license,” proceeded to perform a sternum rub on Smallwood. He failed to respond. He awakened temporarily after she employed smelling salts, at which point the nurse left him alone, thinking he was OK. The nurse returned about an hour later and took Smallwood’s vitals, finding them abnormal, but left for the night without taking any further action other than to assure the guards Smallwood was not in danger, the plaintiffs’ attorneys describe.
About 15 minutes later, the guards found him dead, according to the suit.
The suit alleges the nurse was not authorized to make this type of independent diagnostic
determination.
“Her actions presented a clear disregard for the substantial risk that her intoxicated patient would die of an overdose or another medical condition,” the suit claims. “She did not notify a supervising medical provider that she had decided to use smelling salts on an unresponsive patient and unilaterally determined that no further intervention was necessary. She did not even document her actions, and denied him “life-saving medical intervention.”
Angelina County Sheriff Tom Selman, whose lieutenant was present during Smallwood’s detention and is named in the suit, said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News that he “met with Mr. Smallwood’s family personally after he passed away and they are good people” before adding, “I believe our attorneys would be disappointed in me if I made any statements regarding the case.”
The suit alleges wrongful death and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.