DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A former EMT was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter after an inmate she was caring for died of a kidney infection in 2009.
EMT Kelli Brown was on duty when the Rodney Graham collapsed multiple times inside a Douglas County jail cell, FOX Atlanta reports. Brown could have received up to 10 years in prison if she had been convicted.
Video shows his final three days as he tried to signal for help.
He arrived on a minor probation violation, wrongly suspected of being under the influence of cocaine and other drugs, but he was actually suffering from a recurring kidney infection. Three days after being moved to a detox cell, he died of complications from acute renal failure.
Brown checked Graham’s oxygen saturation level after he collapsed, which was recorded at 66. She did not call for an ambulance because he seemed to be coming around, according to the news report. Brown and her supervisor claimed they were overworked, and the jail’s medical department was poorly managed.
“We never took the position that we didn’t do anything wrong,” Brown’s attorney Frank Winn said. “In all honesty, I think she should have checked it again. But that doesn’t make it a crime. The whole system failed Rodney Graham.”