22-Year-Old Mother Dies in Police Custody
A 22-year-old mother of a 3-year-old daughter died in police custody on Tuesday, May 10, and the world is silent is about it. The police, the jails, the medical examiners, and the local press have not reported on it.
She is essentially invisible from the Internet, which, in today’s society, means that she almost did not exist.
According to her family, Symone Nicole Marshall was in a terrible car accident on April 26 where her car flipped over several times before landing in a ditch. Instead of being taken to a hospital, she was taken to the Walker County Jail in Huntsville, Texas, which is approximately an hour north of Houston.
Honey, her sister said that someone ran Symone off the road.
“My sister Symone moved to Texas for a fresh start in life a few months ago. She was doing good down there, had a job and was about to buy a house. She’s a beautiful person, never been in trouble before and didn’t deserve this,” said Honey Marshall.
Symone told her sister that her head was hurting and that she kept blacking out.
“I called the jail several times and requested for them to take her to a real hospital and they wouldn’t do so. If they would have this, her death could have been prevented and my sister would still be here. My heart hurts so bad. She was my best friend. I am so angry that they did this to her.”
This particular incident is another added example to the police brutality conversation that is driving America’s societal discourse.
Marshall has been unfortunately added to a list of young black women who have been sent to local jails alive and taken out via stretches and body bags. That list includes Gynnya McMillen, Natasha McKenna, and Sandra Bland who received nationwide attention due to the unanswered questions from the police department.
These are the type of issues that need to generate national press because if we don’t know about them, we cannot ignite change.
(Photo Courtesy: Marshall Family)
Like Sandra and everyone else, this is an outrage! It’s like we are living with the Taliban. What kind of person could knowingly contribute to the death of anyone, even if they think they are a lesser person because of their color or gender? We are living amongst remorseless murderers. Why can’t we get rid of them? No one can feel safe with people like that running around free. What they will do to one, they will do to others as long as they can get away with it.
And the DOJ not investigating contributes to their getting away with it. They should all go to prison for murder! There is no excuse.
A very important detail is missing from this writing by Travis Henry. Why was Symone Marshall taken to jail when normally a person would’ve gone to hospital in an ambulance to be checked out after flipping over in a car several times. And also no mention if her death is being investigated or what. Too read this & seeing her smiling face & then be left hanging by the writer, doesn’t even make sense.
Could not agree more. Why was she taken to jail after an accident like that. Was EMS called? What are they not telling us?
If you read the first paragraph, the official version of why Symone was taken to jail hasn’t been released. The author doesn’t say whether or not he inquired & was rebuffed. As a busy Rutgers senior who publishes his own magazine & edits the school’s magazine, he might have gone with what Symone’s sister Honey told him, plus uncovering or verifying the facts in the first sentence.
Obviously, there’s no good reason for the police to have chosen to endanger Symone, with fatal results. I’m trying to imagine what might have happened based on other cases. Maybe she tried to evade a police stop for speeding & went off the road at the end of a chase? That’s nowhere near an arguably acceptable reason, but we know police abuse often starts with officers who are angry with their victim for some reason, perhaps especially if racism (& possibly misogyny) is also involved. If she was simply forced off the road as she told Honey, racism &/or misogyny might be the only reason.
Exactly what makes this article so exasperating to read. That a person was taken to jail w/ no unofficial reason let alone an ‘official one’ as to why they were jailed. If ‘forced off’ the road according to relative, one is still left to conjecture the possible reason for lack of medical attention after a serious accident.
Texas is an evil place for People of Color. Too many deaths. Especially in West Texas, real terrorism against People of Color.
My Italian relatives were told when driving out to California after WWII, gas up in East Texas and do not stop any where in West Texas.
Recently, in the last decade, I had relatives retire to an area outside of Dallas. They lasted three years. The neighbors stop talking to them when they had a large gathering on their second Thanksgiving there. Many of my extended family are People of Color and Latino.
Ugly place to live unless you are white.
And not that great if you are. My nephew lived there and said he liked it even after being sent to the state owned work factory (aka prison) after defending himself in a bar fight. An amusing side note the other fighter also ended up in the same factory after attacking and beating his own father. But as soon as able my nephew moved out of Texas and back to….
This is criminal negligence on the part of the police involved. Why was she taken to jail and not the hospital? Even if she was wanted for murder (which she certainly was NOT), she should have been given medical attention immediately. What kind of sadistic, sick, barbarians would treat a person this way? What the F? I am outraged! Her poor family, her poor child.
I believe there is more to the story than what is being told. Why would the police take someone who was in a terrible accident to jail? We really need to know the FULL details, and if this is what happened, then EVERY officer involved in taking her to jail instead of calling EMT needs to be fired on the spot and given some very long prison sentences! Sad regardless of the info!
What a sad situation. This most likely barely made the news. RACISM is alive and well and living in our neighborhoods. I am praying that there will be justice in this case. Hopefully her family takes legal action and those responsible will be held accountable for their actions.
its WHITE TERRORISM which the news media or anyone else will concede. whites have been getting away with killing people of color in texas for centuries.
We have a police state ever bit as oppressive as the former Soviet Union. You can be detained without cause, and you can be disposed of at will. And they don’t even have to discuss it with anyone.
And no one ever gets prosecuted for the death. With most undeniable cases family gets a good lawyer & taxpayer payout & another obscene death gets no justice. One of cops responsible for Freddie Gray’s death just get acquitted. If ever was a case of someone needing to be put in an ambulance as opposed to handcuffed in back of a police van to die, this is it w/ video to prove it. Nero was acquitted for not doing anything outside of ‘police procedure’ said judge. Until this procedure is changed, requiring police to use good judgement resulting from their actions of possible/ probable need for medical evaluation before jail, or be prosecuted if bad judgement leads to person’s death, nothing will change.
Yes, more information is needed to fully understand what happened here, but enough is known that a serious, independent investigation is called for.