Mom of 3 dies in jail after staff thought she was faking illness, Colorado suit says

A mom of three died in a Colorado jail after she was refused medical treatment for seven hours while overdosing on drugs, according to a lawsuit.

Lawyers on Dec. 6 filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Colorado on behalf of the family of Amy Lynn Cross, 41, who was booked into Weld County Jail on Sept. 3, 2021, for drug related charges, according to the lawsuit. She was supposed to be transferred to work release on Sept. 7 but died on Sept. 5.

The Weld County Board of Commissioners, which the lawsuit says operates the jail through the sheriff’s office, and Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams declined to comment on the matter at this time.

The lawsuit also names Turn Key Health Clinics, which it says contracted with the Weld County Board of Commissioners to “provide health care to the inmates at the jail.”McClatchy News reached out to Turn Key Health Clinics on Dec. 8 and is awaiting a response.

Turn Key also contracts with correctional facilities in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas. It provides health care to inmates with the vision to “enhance the delivery of healthcare for correctional facilities” according to its website.

McClatchy News was unable to reach the lawyers of others named in the lawsuit.

Cross had disclosed to the health care workers at the jail her history of drug abuse upon booking, according to the complaint.

Cross had smuggled a bag of methamphetamine inside her body into the jail, according to the lawsuit. It went undetected.

An autopsy later revealed that the bag Cross had smuggled into the prison had broken open, lawyers said. She died from “acute methamphetamine toxicity.”

“Cross died as an inmate in the Weld County Jail on September 5, 2021 as a result of deliberate indifference to her known serious medical needs,” the lawsuit said.

Attorney Erica Grossman told The Colorado Sun that “it’s inhumane what they did.”

“Amy Cross deserved better,” Grossman said, according to The Colorado Sun.

Cross was overdosing on methamphetamine with symptoms worsening every hour, according to the lawsuit.

She was experiencing chest pain, erratic agitated behavior, abnormal breathing and a critically high heart rate, according to the document.

Cross became so hot that she was lying on the floor, shirtless, for hours having seizure-like symptoms, the lawsuit said. She was unresponsive, turning blue and foaming from the mouth.

This continued for seven hours while “health care workers knowingly disregarded and ignored her worsening condition,” according to the lawsuit.

“Amy Cross was abandoned while she was unresponsive, foaming at the mouth, and while her fingers turned blue as her organs shut down. The way medical problems are treated in jails around the country is a national scandal and something has to be done,” attorney Anna Edwards told McClatchy News.

Those named in the lawsuit are accused of believing Cross was faking her condition, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said they “pre-determined not to send Ms. Cross to the hospital, regardless of her condition, because she was ‘acting a fool.’”

An ambulance was eventually called but not until medical staff could no longer find a pulse on Cross, according to the complaint. She died on the floor of her cell.

Cross’s family, her sister and three children are seeking an unspecified amount for the damages caused by her death, the lawsuit said.

“I think they deserve significant justice for what happened to their mom,” Grossman said, according to The Colorado Sun.

Weld County is about 70 miles northeast of Denver.

Five cops face charges months after man was paralyzed in police custody, officials say

Corrections officer orchestrated attacks on inmates out of sight of cameras, feds say

SWAT team storms 77-year-old’s house after app leads them to wrong home, CO suit says

Cop thought body camera was off while kicking man in the face — but it was on, feds say