MINERAL COUNTY, NV (RNN) - A woman's family is suing a rural Nevada county after they said she was left to suffer convulsions and died in her jail cell, her pleas for medical help denied.
Kelly Coltrain died on the evening of July 22, 2017, less than an hour after she was made to clean up her own vomit off the floor with a mop, Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
Her parents filed a lawsuit Aug. 29, accusing the sheriff's office of ignoring her calls for medical assistance knowing she was suffering from drug withdrawals and had a history of seizures. The lawsuit also said the sheriff's office had no policy for what to do after discovering an unresponsive inmate.
A state investigation found that county officials didn't follow procedures when they denied her medical care.
"Unfortunately, since you're DT'ing (drug detoxification), I'm not going to take you over to the hospital right now just to get your fix," Deputy Ray Gulcynski told Coltrain, according to the state investigation. "That's not the way detention works, unfortunately. You are incarcerated with us, so … you don't get to go to the hospital when you want. When we feel that your life is at risk… then you will go."
She was arrested and jailed July 19, 2017, after a traffic stop revealed she had unpaid tickets.
After three days eating very little, Coltrain began vomiting and having seizures.
Sgt. Jim Holland thought Coltrain was mopping the floor while still in the bed because she was just "lazy," the state investigation said.
"Sgt. Holland advised he just wanted the floor to be cleaned and he didn't care how it got done, just that it got cleaned up," the report said.
It took more than six hours after she stopped moving before she was discovered unresponsive, despite her cell being monitored by surveillance video, investigators revealed.
Once Gulcynski discovered her unresponsive and cold to the touch, he didn't call for for medical help or try to revive her, investigators said. Her body was left in her cell until the next morning.
An independent investigator from outside the county declined to bring criminal charges against the law enforcement officials involved in the case. Authorities at the jail said they were reviewing procedures.
The two men are no longer employed at the jail, with Holland taking a buyout offer, Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
The medical examiner called her death accidental, from complications of drug abuse.
Coltrain developed a drug addiction and suffered from depression after suffering from a knee injury as a teenager.
WARNING: THE IMAGE BELOW IS GRAPHIC.
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