Bridgeport’s police union has filed a grievance over two officers being suspended after the deaths of two Black women last year, according to Hearst Connecticut Media.
Families of the women said police didn’t adequately notify them of their deaths. Lauren Smith-Fields was pronounced dead after a man she met on a dating app said he found her unresponsive. Her family said police left a note on her door with a number for them to call.
Brenda Lee Rawls’s family also said police failed to notify them of the 53-year-old’s death, also in December.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim had his department place the officers on administrative leave last week. A letter from the police union said the move inflamed anti-police sentiment and interfered with due process.
Some critics said the administrative leave wasn’t enough. State Representative C.L. Stallworth of Bridgeport compared the leave to a paid vacation.
