Family furious as relative dies in custody

The loved ones of 23-year-old Tevin Foster, a detainee of the Hunts Bay lock up who passed away on Saturday after falling ill, are crying negligence.

Speaking with THE STAR yesterday, one of Foster's relatives said she believes he would still be alive if he had been given urgent medical care.

"He didn't have to die, eno because is about two months now him a complain say him sick, but all the police cared about [is to ask] how we know that and that we were receiving illegal phone call. Yes, the calls were illegal, but it doesn't change the fact that he was sick and needed to go to the hospital, but this didn't happen," she said.

Foster was in the custody of the police since June 23 on robbery-related charges. The police report that about 8:40 a.m. on January 3, Foster, who was last treated for bronchitis, was inside his cell when he complained of feeling unwell. He was rushed to the Kingston Public Hospital for treatment, where he was pronounced dead. Both the police and the Independent Commission of Investigations are probing the matter.

The relative said that as far she knew, Foster was in good health until last November when he contacted her to tell her that he was not feeling well.

"He said other inmates were sick, some of whom were admitted in the hospital. He told me that he wanted to go to the hospital as he was vomiting, having running belly, dryness of his mouth, weakness, and so on. I was thinking that maybe he was dehydrated. He said he asked that he be taken to the doctor, but that never happened," she said.

The woman said that a few days later, Foster was eventually taken for medical care at a health centre.

"[Foster] said the police was given a paper for them to take him to the hospital, but that never happen. Mi call dem numerous times and beg dem take Foster to the hospital, and dem ask mi how mi know say him sick. Mi ask a police[man] from another station to check on him for me, and he told me that they said Foster was taking medication, and mi ask who prescribed that," she said.

The relative said Foster refuted those claims, alleging that the only medication he got was from a policewoman who crushed a pill in a cup of water for him to take.

"Christmas week [him] call mi and ask if we a go make him dead in there, and mi call back again and again. The police ask mi how mi know that and that mi a receive illegal phone call. Him keep on a say him can't eat because him don't have any saliva and him feel dry," she said.

"Him draw down and get mawga because him nah eat. One of the inmates in his cell say him a mess up himself. That was the Friday and him dead the Saturday morning. The police say him dead because him wasn't taking any medication, but as far as I know, [he] wasn't on any medication," she added.