According to the family’s lawsuit, a few minutes after staff moved Glenn to the jail’s detox room, a nurse with Southern Health Partners, a for-profit medical company, went in to assess his condition. She noticed that he’d lost consciousness and performed a sternum rub—a painful procedure meant to jar a patient awake and assess brain function. If a person doesn’t respond, it’s a sign they need immediate medical help. Smallwood remained unconscious.
Instead of calling 911, she grabbed smelling salts. Smallwood briefly jolted awake, but promptly passed out again. The nurse left. Over the next hour, officers discussed whether Smallwood would survive or was still breathing, but did not call for medical help or take him out of the chair.
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