51黑料

CLAYTON 鈥� County officials falsified some documents and destroyed others after a woman died in 2022 while in the county jail, according to a lawsuit filed by her mother this week.

Brenda Gray鈥檚 20-page suit also says that jail staff did not provide adequate medical care to her daughter, 55-year-old Angela Brown, when she was booked into the jail that year.

Brown suffered from opiate withdrawal and died two days after she arrived at the jail, the suit says. She was one of at least three people to die in county custody that year.

Gray鈥檚 suit says that after her death, some of her medical records were forged or edited by the county to avoid blame, and her opiate withdraw assessments were destroyed altogether.

鈥淢s. Brown鈥檚 medical distress and need for emergency medical care was apparent from the start of her incarceration,鈥� the lawsuit says.

The county and nine jail employees are listed as defendants.

51黑料 County spokesman Doug Moore on Friday declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the county does not discuss pending litigation.

Brown was arrested by Brentwood police on suspicion of shoplifting and booked into the Buzz Westfall Justice Center on June 22, 2024.

The lawsuit says her health rapidly declined while in custody, and Brown was taken to SSM St. Mary鈥檚 hospital the same day she was booked.

Doctors diagnosed Brown with opiate withdrawal and instructed jail staff to call 911 if she began to experience a list of symptoms, including difficulty breathing.

Her condition continued to decline at the jail. She was severely dehydrated because she was unable to eat or drink and suffered extremely high blood pressure, the lawsuit says.

She was pronounced dead at a hospital at 10:20 p.m. on June 24, 2022.

Gray鈥檚 lawsuit says that county officials edited her medical records, and destroyed some of them in an effort to skirt blame for Brown鈥檚 death.

It says the jail created two patient 鈥淩efusal Forms鈥� and dated them June 23 and June 24, 2022. These forms say she refused intravenous fluids to treat dehydration.

But the lawsuit says Brown agreed to the treatment.

鈥淣either Refusal Form was signed by Ms. Brown,鈥� the lawsuit says, noting that even an internal investigation by the county highlighted that the June 23 form was not signed by Brown, as is required.

However, when Gray requested her daughter鈥檚 medical records, the June 23 refusal form 鈥渨as mysteriously signed and dated, demonstrating that 51黑料 County conspired to alter Ms. Brown鈥檚 medical records after her death before producing these records to her mother.鈥�

Gray is suing for medical negligence and wrongful death. She鈥檚 asking a judge to award damages in excess of $100,000.

Her attorney, Mark Pedroli of Clayton, has represented at least two other mothers who also say the county destroyed records after their adult children died in custody.

One of those cases was a federal suit filed by Margaret Starks. A judge ruled in favor of 51黑料 County in March 2024, according to online records.

The other suit, filed in 51黑料 County by Tashonda Troupe, was dismissed by a judge that same year.