Audio released last month revealed how 23-year-old Ta’Neasha Chappell begged jail staffers for medical assistance for nearly 16 hours before she died on July 2021.
In recordings provided by Chappell’s family attorney, Sam Aguiar, staff at the Jackson County, Indiana, jail can be heard growing irritated by Chappell’s pleas for help. She repeatedly told staff that she was throwing up blood and felt extremely sick, to no avail, Courier-Journal reports.
“I don’t know what you want me to do unless you’re coughing up something crazy,” one staffer told Chappell at 1:33 a.m. on July 16. By 6 p.m. that day, Chappell was dead.
“You can hear the decline,” Aguiar said of Chappell’s ailing health heard in the recordings.
“You could have put any rational human being on the other end of that intercom and they would have known that something was incredibly wrong.”
The audio confirms that Chappell let officers know she was throwing up blood at least 12 hours before an ambulance was called, Wave 3 reports. Video also shows that Chappell was lying on her cell room floor for hours, unclothed and crying for help.
Video clips show that Chappell was unable to stand and sat in her own waste at times. While correction officers were seen opening the cell door, nothing was done to aid Chappell.
Shortly after being taken to the Schneck Medical Center, Chappell went into cardiac arrest and died. Doctors noted the possibility of Chappell being poisoned and recommended she be checked for ethylene glycol, an ingredient found in common cleaners.
While an autopsy found toxicity in her system, no determination was made as to the exact substance. Chappell’s official cause of death was listed as “undetermined.”
Journalist Roland Martin recently highlighted the mystery that remains around Chappell’s death.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Chalfant says there was no evidence supporting that Chappell was purposely poisoned. In December, prosecutors declined to file any charges related to Chappell’s death.
Chappell’s family has since filed a federal lawsuit against Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer, Jail Commander Chris Everhart, and seven other jail employees. The suit is ongoing.
