Lashawn Thompson's family filed a lawsuit against the county in the wake of his death, and on Wednesday, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 to approve a mediated settlement in the amount of $4 million.
A Georgia county will pay millions to settle a lawsuit following the death of a man who was "eaten alive by insects and bed bugs," according to his family.
Lashawn Thompson, 35, passed away earlier this year while incarcerated at Fulton County Jail.
An independent autopsy later determined his cause of death to be "complications due to severe neglect" with "untreated decompensated schizophrenia" listed as a contributing cause.
And, as noted by his family, Thompson's body was infested with bugs.
Thompson's family filed a lawsuit against the county in the wake of his death, and on Wednesday, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 to approve a mediated settlement in the amount of $4 million.
No further details about the settlement were provided by the board, and the attorney for the family, Michael Harper, tells Inside Edition Digital that they will not be making a statement.
"The Fulton County Commissioners' vote speaks for itself," says Harper.
Harper and noted civil rights attorney Ben Crump also sent a joint statement to Inside Edition Digital about the settlement.
“While we are satisfied to reach settlements in these matters with Fulton County and unidentified entities for undisclosed amounts, we are nowhere near the end of this journey to full justice," the statement says. "We will continue to work with the Thompson family –– and the community that rallied behind them –– to ensure that a tragedy like this one never happens to another family or takes one more life.'
The statement continues: "Lashawn’s life mattered, and together, we can demand and motivate significant change in his name. That will be the legacy of Lashawn Thompson.”
Thompson lost 32 lbs during his three months in the Fulton County Jail, had severe dehydration and malnutrition at the time of his death, according to a report released in May following the independent autopsy.
That report also said that there is no record that he received any of the medication necessary to treat his schizophrenia in the month prior to his death — or any care at all.
For "43 days there was minimal documentation found within the records that show care being delivered," the report says. "The medication administration log showed that no medication was administered from Aug. 11, 2022 – Sept. 13, 2022."
"Based upon the timeline provided, Lashawn Thompson suffered from severe body insect infestation that clearly spanned greater 28 days," wrote Roger A. Mitchell, Jr. MD. "During the time it took to accumulate the severe and substantial infestation, Mr. Thompson would not have received a bath from his caregivers."
Mitchell, who is also a professor at Howard University, was hired by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's non-profit organization to conduct the autopsy after the autopsy by the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office found Thompson's cause of death to be "undetermined." That autopsy report did note however that the deceased had a severe bedbug infestation.
The independent autopsy report determined the manner of death to be homicide. “Mr. Thompson was neglected to death," writes Mitchell.
Thompson was booked into Fulton County Jail on June 12 of last year on a misdemeanor charge.
He did not have the funds to post bail, and on Sept. 13, three months after his arrest, he was found unresponsive and slumped over a toilet in his cell, covered in bugs, according to the incident report filed by Fulton County Jail staffers.
The chief jailer and assistant chief jailer of Housing and assistant chief jailer of the Criminal Investigative Division all resigned in the wake of Thompson's death, and details of the investigation into what caused this fatal incident have been turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for review.
