DETROIT – Honey Marshall wants to know why her 22-year-old sister, Symone, ended up dying while being held in a Texas jail just after weeks after she had moved there to start a new life.
“She didn’t deserve this. She’s never bothered anybody in her whole life … her whole world was being a mother,” Honey Marshall said.
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Symone Marshall’s car crash and flipped into a ditch April 26 on Interstate 45 in Walker County, which is north of Houston.
The Sheriff’s Office said she refused medical treatment at the crash scene, but was arrested on a cocaine possession charge and for giving a false name. A passenger who was in the car was also arrested, but made bond and was released.
Symone Marshall, unable to pay her bond, stayed behind bars for two weeks.
Honey Marshall said her sister complained about her head hurting.
“She suffered in there. She cried every day, begging for them to take her to a hospital,” Honey Marshall said. “They wouldn’t release her out of there.”
Honey Marshall said jail officials told her that her sister had been seen by an in-house doctor.
“I said, ‘No, she needs to go to a real hospital,’” Honey Marshall said.
Walker County Sheriff Clint McRae said the jail has a full time physician, and that all proper procedures in the jail were followed. He also denies that Symone Marshall was ever denied medical treatment.
“Everything has been followed through and through, and has been looked at,” McRae said. “We’re still waiting on the autopsy report, but everything has been handled appropriately.”
Texas State Police will do an independent review of the case.
Last year, Sandra Bland, was found dead in a Texas jail cell after being in custody for three days.
Read: Trooper who arrested Sandra Bland indicted on perjury