A Connecticut medical examiner ruled Monday (January 24) that the death of 23-year-old Lauren Smith-Fields was “accidental” and caused by “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine, and alcohol,” multiple news outlet reported.
Bridgeport police discovered Smith-Fields unresponsive in her home on December 12, 2021, after a man she met on the Bumble app contacted authorities, according to a police incident report obtained by CNN.
The family’s attorney, Darnell Crosland, said the medical examiner’s ruling makes what happened to Smith-Fields look “like a manslaughter.”
“This looks further like a manslaughter,” Crosland told WTNH Monday evening. “It looks more like a murder, and if the police don’t start acting fast, we’re going to have a big problem on our hand.”
“To find out that all these substances are in their daughter’s body that basically took her life, they’re so angry right now,” Crosland added.
Smith-Fields’ family has spoken out, accusing authorities of not giving them answers and called out the way police have handled the investigation into their daughter’s death.On January 23, on what would have been Lauren’s 24th birthday, her family organized a protest demanding transparency from authorities and justice more than month after her death.
“My daughter had a life, she traveled the world, she went to college and did tutorials on how to do nails and hair,” Smith-Field’s father, Everett Smith said at the protest, according to Rolling Stone.
“She had a voice and that voice was stripped and the Bridgeport police station ain’t doing sh–t about it.”
The family accused Bridgeport police of flat out telling them to stop calling the department seeking answers into the investigation. The family also say they found out about Lauren’s passing by a note that was left on her apartment door that read, “If you’re looking for Lauren, call this number.”
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Lauren’s parents claims they uncovered physical evidence in Lauren’s apartment that hadn’t been taken by police, and that police wouldn’t consider the man she’d been on a date with the night prior as a suspect because he “seemed nice.”
“This family is not paranoid,” Crosland told CNN. “The reason they feel that way is because as of late, Gabby Petito was missing and the type of manhunt that was out for her killer was insurmountably different than we see here.”
“No one is going to discard Lauren Smith-Fields, my daughter, (like) she’s rubbish,” her mother, Shantell Fields told CNN affiliate News 12 Connecticut.
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