The family of a 35-year-old man is seeking answers after he was found dead in an Atlanta jail, with a lawyer saying he was “eaten alive by insects and bed bugs.”
Georgia lawyer Michael D. Harper—who’s representing the family of LaShawn Thompson—said the death calls for an extensive investigation and an overhaul of the Fulton County facility.
“Mr. Thompson was found dead in a filthy jail cell after being eaten alive by insects and bed bugs,”
Harper said
Thompson was discovered dead inside a disgusting cell at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 13, 2022 — three months after he was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor simple battery, Harper said.
While he was held at the lockup, officers moved Thompson to the jail’s psychiatric wing after they determined he had a mental illness, Harper said.
“They left him there essentially,” Harper told Insider. “And they had a plan to take him to the medical observation unit, but their plan never happened, and they found him dead, eaten by these bed bugs.”
Harper released graphic photos showing Thompson’s body and the horrific conditions of his jail cell on Wednesday along with what he said was a report from the Fulton County medical examiner that described a “severe bed bug infestation” in Thompson’s cell.
“There were no obvious signs of trauma found about the decedent’s body,” the purported medical examiner’s report said. “The decedent’s body was covered in bed bugs.”
The medical examiner ruled Thompson’s cause and manner of death as “undetermined,” according to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail.
Harper, citing jail records, alleged that jail staffers noticed that Thompson was “deteriorating” but did nothing to help him.
“They literally watched his health decline until he died,” Harper said in a statement. He alleged that Thompson’s jail cell “was not fit for a diseased animal.”
“He did not deserve this,” Harper continued. “Someone has to be held accountable for his death.”
