Buffalo, N.Y. - The death of a Rochester-area woman who had been in custody at the Erie County Holding Center is being questioned and now protesters have taken to the streets in downtown Buffalo. Time Warner Cable News Reporter LaMonica Peters has the details.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Her name is India Cummings and dozens gathered to protest her treatment while in custody there last month. The twenty-seven year-old was arrested on Feb. 1 after being accused of car theft and then crashing the vehicle.
"Say her name! Say her name! Say her name! Say her name!," said protesters in front of the Erie County Holding Center.
Four days after leaving the facility, Cummings was dead and her family believes the Erie County Sheriff's Office is at fault.
"The family truly feels like India was in a medical crisis. She sought help and she was the one to call 911 for help. Instead of help she was arrested, without medical treatment, the treatment that she needed. We have come here several times to try to visit her, to see about her, to check on her and we were unable to every time," says Jessica Simon, a family friend.
The sheriff's office said medical and mental health professionals saw Cummings daily between February 11-17. On the 17, she was taken to Buffalo General Hospital and then released from police custody by a judge.
"When they say she was released, she was brain dead by the time that she left. By New York state law, that means when there's irreversible brain damage and there's no brain activity, you are dead. So really, for all intents and purposes, legally speaking, she died behind those walls," says Matthew Albert, the family's attorney.
Albert said the family is setting up an estate so they can legally access Cummings' medical records. As emotions ran high during the rally, protesters vowed to keep the case in the publics eye.
"Something's going to happen. I hope something does. I hope everybody here dedicates themselves to making sure this doesn't go away," said John Washington, of PUSH Buffalo.
The State Commission of Correction is investigating Cummings' death.
A Sheriff's Office spokesperson declined comment due to pending litigation.