Another Black Woman Was Found Dead in Her Jail Cell
Another black woman died in police custody this weekend: 37-year-old Ralkina Jones, who was pronounced dead Sunday morning in a jail in Cleveland.
Jones had been arrested on felony assault charges after she allegedly got into an altercation with her ex-husband in a grocery store parking lot. The allegations, via the Guardian:
According to the police report, Jones broke out the driver’s side window of her ex-husband’s car and then swung a tire iron repeatedly at him. “During the incident, Ralkina’s 12-year-old daughter was in the back seat of her vehicle, which she attempted to run Brandon [Jones] over with,” the police report said.
Jones was booked into the Cleveland Heights jail Friday night. Cops found her “lethargic” on Saturday evening and she was briefly hospitalized “for problems with her blood pressure and blood sugar” and given medication. Jones was returned to her jail cell around 11 p.m. and officers say they checked her vitals again around 12:45 a.m.
By 10 a.m. Sunday morning, she was dead.
Authorities haven’t explained how or why she died, other than to say she appeared fine during “periodic checks” throughout the night. The Cuyahoga County medical examiner says he found “no suspicious injuries” and has not yet determined a cause of death.
According to VICE, Jones is the fourth inmate of color to die in jail this month.
Her family, who says she sounded fine on the phone Saturday, are still looking for an explanation.
“Every time we call [the cops] we don’t get an answer and that’s the upsetting part,” Jones’ sister,” Renee Ashford tells Cleveland.com.
