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Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim made the announcement late Sunday, Jan. 30 that Bridgeport Police detective Angel Llanos and Detective Kevin Cronin were suspended from duties and put on administrative leave until an internal investigation and disciplinary cases have been completed.
In addition, the supervisory officer who was in charge of overseeing these matters has retired from the department as of this past Friday, Jan. 28 Ganim added.
“I want you to know that I am extremely disappointed with the leadership of the Bridgeport Police Department and find actions taken up to this point unacceptable,” the mayor said.
The department has been under intense pressure from the families of Smith-Fields and that of Brenda Lee Rawls about how the cases were handled.
Llanos has been with the department since 1988 and Cronin has been with the department since 2000.
Smith-Fields, age 23, of Bridgeport, was found dead in her apartment on Sunday, Dec. 12 by Bridgeport Police, said Captain Kevin Gilleran.
The young woman was found dead after meeting up with a man named Matthew LaFountain from the dating app Bumble.
According to an incident report, obtained by the family's attorney, Smith-Fields’ body was found by LaFountain after a night of drinking and eating. He claims he found her around 6:30 a.m. on the floor bleeding from the nose. He called 911 to report her death.
The family was not notified of her death by police, instead, they found out from Smith-Field's landlord when they visited her apartment after not hearing from her in a couple of days.
Her death was ruled an accidental drug overdose by the medical examiner's office. The death is currently under investigation by the department's Narcotics and Vice Division along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Rawls, age 53, of Bridgeport, died on Sunday, Dec. 12 after going over to a man’s house, her family told NBC News.
“Nobody ever notified us that she died,” Dorothy Rawls Washington, Rawls’ sister, told the news channel. “We had to do our own investigation and find out where she was.”
Washington said family members walked to the man’s house on Tuesday, Dec. 14 after they couldn't get in contact with her. The man told them that he hadn’t been able to wake Rawls up and that she had died.
Her cause of death has not yet been determined.
The sister said the department never even attempted to look for the next of kin and that four letters they sent to Ganim and Police Chief Rebeca Garcia were never answered.
"The next time we saw our sister was in the funeral home," Washington told NBC News.
“The Bridgeport Police Department has high standards for officer sensitivity especially in matters involving the death of a family member,” Ganim said. “It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed. To the families, friends, and all who care about the human decency that should be shown in these situations in this case by members of the Bridgeport Police Department, I am very sorry.”
To read the entire NBC News story. Click here.
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