US inmate's family sues prison over death from denial of medical care
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Lucas Bellamy's family released a video showing how he crawled out of his cell begging for medical help before he died.
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A screen grab from the video released by Lucas Bellamy's family, where he can be seen crouching in agony, as the staff looked on. (Law Offices of Storms Dworak LLC)
A shocking video released on Tuesday by the family of now-deceased US inmate Lucas Bellamy showed how he was refused medical treatment, even after he crawled out of his cell on his hands and knees which prompted his family to announce their lawsuit, demanding justice for Lucas and all inmates being treated the same way.
On July 18, 2022, Bellamy, 41, was arrested on charges of "fleeing police in a suspected stolen vehicle along with possession of brass knuckles" and was taken to the Hennepin County Jail. He was found dead three days later after recurrently asking the jail staff for help.
He informed the staff, at the time of his arrest, that he had overdosed and consumed a bag of drugs. He was then rushed to the hospital, where he was sedated and monitored for several hours before being sent back to jail on the condition that "he would be re-admitted in case of the arrival of any new symptoms." This happened a few days later where at that point he could barely stand, but instead of moving him to the hospital, they moved him to a general prison cell.
The nurse assigned later to care for him declined his request to be moved to the hospital, even though Bellamy had complained of severe pain as his stomach ache intensified severely.
At around 1 pm that day, he was pronounced dead after he succumbed to the pain.
Sarah Bellamy, his sister, told MPR News “Lucas was not how he died. He was not his addiction. He was a beautiful soul, whose sensitive heart was often overwhelmed by the beauty and the ugliness of this world.”
According to court records, Bellamy’s cause of death was peritonitis due to a duodenal perforation, which means he “died from an infection because there was a hole in his small intestine”, adding it could have been treated easily with proper medical care. Those same records stated that "Lucas spent the last day of his life... desperately begging nurses and jail guards to see a doctor."
Colleen Bellamy, Lucas' mother, said the workers assigned to her son's care were “standing back as if this little skinny helpless human being was a danger to them,” emphasizing that “He had begged, he had crawled on all-fours until he couldn't even move on all-fours. He just collapsed like Jell-O.”
15 inmates have died in the Hennepin County Jail since 2015.
