27 February 2023 , 17:38
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A disabled woman has died in the back of a police car after being arrested outside a hospital with one of the last things she tells police being "you're going to kill me".
The police department has now released body-cam footage showing the February 6 arrest of Lisa Edwards, 60, who had refused to leave the hospital grounds after being discharged.
In the horrific video, you can hear Edwards pleading officers for help as her voice begins to slur. She died from a stroke in the back of the police car.
Police were called to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, in Tennessee, US, and they arrested the disabled woman, at one stage telling her they will "stuff her in" in the police vehicle after she refused to get in.
The wheel-chair bound woman was arrested for refusing to leave hospital grounds (Knoxville Police Department)Throughout the encounter, the victim can be heard wheezing and struggling to breath.
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Despite her complaints and appearing unwell, one officer tells her "you're going to get in there one way or another".
Over the space of an hour, police force her into the back of the cop car.
In the last moments before the footage cuts away, the 60-year-old can be heard saying: "You're going to kill me".
Ms Edwards in the back of the police cruiser, where she became unresponsive (Knoxville Police Department)The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation revealed the woman had flown to Knoxville from a nursing home in Rhode Island and during the flight complained about abdominal pain.
After being diagnosed with constipation she sought out a second opinion and was observed overnight at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center. She refused to leave the next morning and police were called.
As they were driving back to the station with Edwards on board they pulled over a car driving recklessly. It was then Officer Timothy Distasio realised Ms Edwards was unresponsive in the back seat.
He can be heard shouting "wake up" as he shook the patients before calling for help.
In the final moments of the footage, an ambulance can be seen pulling up.
Now Lisa's family have slammed the police saying: "she did not deserve to be treated like that, nobody does."
She was left physically disabled in August 2019 after suffering a first stroke.
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The Knox County District Attorney's Office have announced that no charges are being filed against the officers involved.
Lisa Edwards died after being forced into the back of a police car (Knoxville Police Department)They said Lisa died of natural causes and police interaction did not contribute to her death.
Ms Edwards daughter-in-law August Boylan told WATE: "It's totally irrelevant of how she got to where she was that morning, but that whole situation that played out for an extended period of time is horrible, absolutely horrible.
"The police officers may not have done anything intentionally criminal to cause anything to happen to her, but they definitely were negligent and had no respect for human life, any basic needs, anything.
The moments leading to Ms Edwards' death were caught on police worn bodycam footage (Knoxville Police Department)"You don't have to be a medical professional to know what the signs of stroke are. And you can see that in her, you know, start to finish.
"That is not somebody working themselves up like they said in there. That is not somebody faking it.
"She, I mean, she said it herself, that she was dying, that she was having a stroke."