ELGIN, TX -- An investigation finds what Elgin police did not do may have cost an inmate his life.
On Nov, 27, 2011, Elgin police officers Scott Roberson and Richard Johnson arrested James Haywood, 33, for possession of marijuana. Shortly thereafter, the officers said they witnessed Haywood swallowing a white substance. Tests showed it was cocaine.
"As soon as they tested the bag and knew that it was cocaine that he swallowed they should have gotten him some type of medical help, because that is their procedure and their policy," said Haywood's mother. Eva.
But Haywood was not taken a hospital or any medical facility. Instead he was taken to Elgin PD booking and later transported to the Bastrop County jail. About an hour-and-a-half after the initial arrest, Haywood was given CPR , but later died.
"I do not want no other mother to feel and go through what I went through since November 27th," said Eva.
"My role is I am an independent investigator, so we do our own independent investigation," said Judge Donna Van Gilder, the Bastrop County Justice of the Peace for precinct 1. JPs serve as medical examiners in counties that don't have one. "In this particular case, that is exactly what I did. I called in the Texas Rangers to investigate further."
Haywood was asked if she believed James was in any way responsible for his death.
"Yes, James made bad choice. James is the cause of us sitting here right now, but James was not getting paid to protect a life," she said. "It is not about James at this point. He is gone. It is not about me. It is about the next mother and the next son, father, brother who they choose to allow to live and allow to die."
The Travis County Medical Examiner has ruled the official cause of death to be acute cocaine and ethanol intoxication.
The Elgin Police Department would not comment on this story.
Eva Haywood says she will push to have criminal charges filed against officers Roberson and Johnson.
