On Friday, August 14, 2015, Michael Robinson was arrested and held with a bond in a Missouri Jail (Pemiscott County) for being behind on his child support payments. Michael Robinson had diabetes. Even after notifying authorities of his condition, his family says he was denied medical treatment by the authorities.
Saturday morning, his girlfriend came to visit him. She said he was showing extreme symptoms of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). According to her, you could look at him and tell that he was not right. She claimed he was barely able to lift his head. His girlfriend informed the authorities of his medical condition and pleaded with them to get him some medical attention. She said they offered him a form, and he refused to sign it. They told her that the only way he could receive medical treatment would be to sign a form.
I can personally tell you that when a person has extremely high blood sugar, they are not very agreeable. 24 hours without insulin is a dangerous position for any diabetic. Doctors say that high blood sugar can cause impairment of cognitive function, increased sadness, and anxiety.
According to the family’s statement, she brought his medicine back to the jail, but because it is against policy to bring any drugs to inmates (prescribed or not), she was denied the opportunity to help him.
The statement also claims that early Sunday Morning around 3 is, Michael began to scream so loudly for help that it alarmed other prisoners, and some of them even begged for guards to help him as well. The Robinson family believes his screams gave the guards cause to strap him to a chair, hose him down, and to throw him into solitary confinement… Where he died of Type 1 Diabetes complications.
The family is currently seeking justice for Michael Robinson’s death, although there are no protests scheduled at this time. They have secured legal counsel. Their legal team consists of Olu Orange, Jose Baez, and Benjamin Crump. These lawyers are top notch lawyers. They worked with both Tamir Rice and Micheal Brown’s families as well. They also worked together to sue Windermere with Jason Darnell, a white former police officer who was wrongfully accused of racially profiling black motorists.
The cousin made a statement that clarifies their use of the #blacklivesmatter hashtag:
“I want to be clear about something. We are not using black lives matter hashtags because we believe he was killed because the jailers were racist. There is no way to know that at this point. Plus the same exact thing happened in the same jail to a white man three weeks prior with the same results…death.
We use the black lives matter hashtags because the system is racist.”
Currently, they are waiting to hear back from the initial investigation. They are asking that footage of his girlfriend pleading for his life be released to the public as well as any other evidence. They fear that evidence may be tampered with. The Robinson family states, ” We allege widespread corruption in the county’s law enforcement and legal system.”
Micheal is survived by three daughters
Click here to see a statement from the family.
