Family of Cuyahoga County inmate who died at MetroHealth Medical Center holds news conference

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - The family of Tasha Grant, the Cuyahoga County inmate who died at MetroHealth Medical Center, held a news conference Wednesday morning.

The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the possible homicide of Grant who died while being treated at the hospital in May.

“I love her immensely and I wish that never would happen ‚” said Grant’s older brother, Andre Grant, at a press conference on Wednesday.

New video shows Grant, repeat several times before her death that she cannot breathe.

“That night, that day, she even said that she was fearing for her life. That was a moment where she cried for help, and they callously just let her lie there and die, and didn’t do anything to support her, aid her, and didn’t treat her with decency and humanity,” said Stanley Jackson, one of the Grant family attorneys.

On May 2, Grant was taken from the Cuyahoga County Jail to Metro to be treated for a preexisting condition, according to a spokesperson from the sheriff’s department.

Body camera released Monday by the sheriff’s department shows Grant in the emergency room making several threats to MetroHealth officers.

In the video, Grant complained she wasn’t given her heart medication in the jail.

With one hand handcuffed to an emergency room bed, Grant initially told staff she did not want help and wanted to go back to jail.

Body camera shows staff calm Grant down, and they eventually took the handcuff off.

The next set of body camera videos released are from inside the hospital on May 5.

The first video starts around 10:30 that morning, just after Grant had thrown her breakfast on the floor, breaking a plate.

She is clearly agitated — to the point of making threats about doctors, nurses and jail staff, accusing them of police brutality.

Grant even told a nurse about going back to jail.

“Let them try to take me there and see what the f--- is going to happen,” Grant said. “I’m not mother f------ playing, I will turn the f--- into Michael Meyers. I will unleash the gates of mother f------ hell.”

In that instance, staff are again able to talk Grant down, while she is handcuffed with one hand to the rail of the bed.

“There’s no threat to these professionals. She is a double amputee who’s sitting on the floor. Yeah, she’s having a mental crisis and she’s talking aggressively, but that’s not an excuse to kill her and let her die,” said Robert Gresham, a Grant family attorney.

The next body camera released is from just before 6 p.m.

It shows several MetroHealth police officers gloving up preparing to enter Grant’s room.

When the audio begins to record, you can again hear Grant swearing at staff and making threats.

Officers also had a conversation with a medical staff member in the hallway.

They told officers Grant, a double amputee, threw herself out of the bed, onto the floor and tried to escape.

Officers questioned why Grant was no longer cuffed to the bed.

The medical staff explained they needed officers’ assistance to give Grant a shot to calm her down and get her back into bed.

As officers arrived in the room, Grant had sat up on the floor next to her bed.

She became extremely agitated when a female officer entered the room, saying, “B---- I ain’t playing with you h--. Hey this b---- going to play? Let’s go.”

Using her arms, Grant pulled herself up on the side of the bed and made a move towards officers.

At that point in the video, officers grab Grant’s hands, pull her half way on the bed, and restrain her as a staff member gives her a shot in the shoulder.

Screaming at officers to get off of her, Grant said, “I can’t breathe.”

In the course of just under two minutes, officers got Grant on the bed, handcuffed one hand to the rail and told her to roll over.

With officers help, she does roll over but repeats, “I can’t breathe.”

“We need to you to sit up,” one officer replied.

Grant then moved herself further up the bed, still repeating, “I can’t breathe.”

Now in the bed on her own, with no one restraining her, she told a nurse, “I can’t breathe.”

The nurse replied, “You’re breathing.”

Grant then asked the nurse, “Will you scoot me up?”

As staff cover her with a blanket, she can be heard saying in a bit of a sedated voice, “I can’t breathe,” five more times.

An officer locked the handcuffs and the video shuts off as staff appear to be leaving the room.

From the first contact with Grant on the floor, until staff leave, the incident lasted just under six minutes.

The next piece of video is roughly 12 minutes later when a nurse is frantically screaming and swearing as she’s trying to resuscitate Grant.

Grant did not survive.

“Enough is enough justice for Tasha Grant, and that’s where we are. We’re not going away. This family is not going away, and we’re going to be here continuing this fight as long as it takes,” said Gresham.

A statement from MetroHealth sent to 19 News states: “Out of respect for patient privacy and in accordance with legal requirements, we are unable to comment on the specifics of any individual case. We remain steadfast in our mission to provide compassionate, safe and high-quality care to every individual we serve.”

A spokesperson for Cuyahoga County said the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department Detective Bureau is investigating this death. A statement sent to 19 News states: “Due to the ongoing investigation, and the potential litigation, we do not have further comment at this time.”

No charges have been filed, but the Grant family attorneys said nothing is off the table in terms of a criminal or civil suit.

The Grant family, through their attorneys, released the following statement;

On behalf of the family of Tasha Grant, we were all saddened to see first-hand video of Ms. Grant’s tragic and completely unnecessary death.

Ms. Grant was experiencing health issues at the time of her incarceration at the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center May 2 which necessitated her transfer to the MetroHealth Medical Center for treatment.

While there, Ms. Grant experienced a mental health crisis but rather than treat her with compassion and professionalism, officers physically restrained her ultimately causing respiratory issues that resulted in her passing May 5.

Ms. Grant’s family wonders why officers felt the need to physically restrain Ms. Grant, a double-leg amputee. The callousness exhibited by the MetroHealth officers and deputy who responded to the call for assistance is truly shocking.

Ms. Grant’s loved ones are working tirelessly to ensure that this kind of tragedy doesn’t happen to another family.

We will not stop in our quest for justice for Ms. Grant."