Lauren Smith-Fields is a 23-year-old Connecticut woman who reportedly died of an overdose, but her death is now being investigated as a crime.
According to the Bridgeport Police, the department’s narcotics and vice division has opened an investigation and will be assisted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lauren Smith-Fields was found unresponsive in her home on December 12, 2021, by a Bridgeport Police Department officer, according to a police incident report obtained by CNN from the family’s attorney.
The individual who called police was a man Lauren Smith-Fields had met on the Bumble dating app and had been on a date with the night before, according to police.
Earlier, a medical examiner ruled Lauren Smith-Fields’s death as accidental and was caused by “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol.”
However, according to acting police Chief Rebeca Garcia, the Police are now focusing their attention on “the factors that led to her untimely death.”
In a statement, the Police said;
“Fentanyl is a strong narcotic associated with an epidemic of opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States. The City of Bridgeport is not immune to this epidemic.”
However, members of Lauren Smith-Fields’ family have accused the police department of violating their civil rights and mishandling the investigation of Lauren Smith-Field’s death.
On Tuesday (Jan. 25, 2022), an attorney for Smith-Fields’ family said the medical examiner’s report raises more questions.
“The M.E. findings doesn’t cure any of the Bridgeport’s lack of process, in (fact) it makes it worse. Instead we are left with more questions than answers as a result of a botched investigation or lack thereof,” attorney Darnell Crosland told CNN via text message.
What Happened To Lauren Smith Fields?
According to a police incident report, early on the morning of December 12, 2021, Bridgeport police received a report about an unresponsive woman at a home.
According to the report, upon arrival, an officer found Lauren Smith-Fields lying on her back on the floor, with dried blood in and around her right nostril.
According to police, the officer also found a “frantic man,” who identified himself as someone who had only known Smith-Fields for three days and met her on the dating app Bumble.
According to the incident report, he had been doing chest compressions after being instructed by the emergency operator on the phone. “He was trembling and visibly shaken,” reads the report.
Shockingly, the man’s name was concealed in the report.