Colin Kaepernick to pay for autopsy of inmate who died in insect-infested jail cell
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will pay for the autopsy of a man who died in an insect-infested jail cell in Georgia, national civil rights attorney Ben Crump said.
Crump made the disclosure Thursday during a news conference outside the Fulton County Jail, where Lashawn Thompson was incarcerated when he died in September at the age of 35.
Family members say Thompson was eaten alive by bed bugs.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to a request for the report on Thompson’s autopsy findings. But the Washington Post reported it said Thompson had an “extremely severe” infestation of small insects across his body but that his cause of death was undetermined.
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A second, independent autopsy, being paid for by Kaepernick, is underway and the results are expected within a few weeks, said attorney Michael Harper, who is representing Thompson's family.
"It's interesting because the whole point of an autopsy is to determine the likely cause of death,'' Harper told USA TODAY Sports. "When you say undetermined, it's almost like you really didn't do an autopsy. ...
"Obviously in a case like this we want a more concrete answer, if we can get it. I mean, our pathologist may come back and say undetermined as well. But we do want to try to get a more definitive answer.''
Thompson had been arrested in June for a simple misdemeanor battery and was moved to the psychiatric ward, according to published reports.
Kaepernick last year announced last year an initiative to pay for second autopsies for family members of anyone whose death is "police-related."
Crump said, “We want to thank Colin Kaepernick for helping [Thompson’s] family get to the truth,” according to the Washington Post.
Attempts to reach Kaepernick, who has fought for social justice and against police brutality, or his representatives for comment were unsuccessful.
The autopsy for Thompson will bring the total Kaepernick's non-profit has paid for to more than 40, according to Sports Illustrated.
The average cost for a second, independent autopsy is about $7,000, said Marcie Schultz, administrator at Final Diagnosis Inc., which is based in Florida and provides forensic pathology consulting and private autopsies.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Colin Kaepernick paying for autopsy of man who died in jail cell
