By ROBIN SHANNON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Family members of a LaPlace woman who suffered from a mental illness are still looking for answers after the woman died while in the custody of the St. John Sheriff’s Office.

Cabrina Williams, 42, went into cardiac arrest on the morning of September 9, while she was waiting to be taken to River Parishes Hospital for a mental evaluation, said St. John Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Mike Tregre.

Tregre said deputies walked Williams from the jail to a patrol car to be taken to the hospital. Once in the car, deputies noticed that Williams appeared to be falling asleep, but she then became unresponsive. She was given CPR and taken by ambulance to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Tregre said Williams had not been eating and she had become dehydrated.

Family members allege that the Sheriff’s Office failed to provide proper care for Williams and, therefore, contributed to her death.

“She should have been in a hospital, not a jail cell,” said Michelle Bell, Williams’ sister. “She just needed proper treatment for the illness, and she was not getting it.”

An autopsy on Williams revealed that blood clots in both lungs contributed to her cardiac arrest. St. John Coroner Christy Montegut is still trying to determine whether other medical conditions contributed to Williams’ death.

“She had her own doctor that she was seeing regularly,” said Bell. “He never detected any type of blood clots or breathing problems. Something else was wrong.”

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, Williams was arrested September 7, when her husband called 911 to report that she was exhibiting “uncontrollable behavior.”

The report said when the responding female deputy arrived at the home, in the 2400 block of Virginian Colony Drive, she entered a bedroom and found Williams lying on a bed. Williams then physically attacked the deputy and had to be restrained. The deputy suffered minor injuries, but was not taken to the hospital.

The report said the deputy called for additional support and those deputies entered the home, handcuffed Williams, her husband Ralph and their 22-year-old son. Tregre said the two men were not charged and only handcuffed until deputies could figure out what was going on during the incident.

“He was trying to get her help and they were treated like criminals,” said Ashley Mason, Williams’ sister-in-law. “The officers did apologize after the fact, but it is still not right.”

Tregre went on to say that Ralph Williams rode along with his wife to the hospital for treatment and also traveled with her to the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility, where she was booked with disturbing the peace.

Bell explained that when family members reported to the jail in an attempt to bail Williams out, they were turned away because Williams had a Coroner’s order placed upon her.

“They wouldn’t even let us see her,” Bell said. “They said she was not in any condition to be seen. We are family, it shouldn’t have mattered.”

Tregre said the coroner’s order was standard procedure for suspects with mental illnesses. He said Williams needed to undergo a mental evaluation before being released.

“We followed the proper steps of our system,” said Tregre. “She was taken to River Parishes Hospital when she was arrested, but they were not equipped to handle her, so she returned to our custody.”

Family members wondered why the Sheriff’s Office couldn’t call other hospitals.

“There are other places she could have been taken,” said Mason. “Cabrina was not a criminal. She was a wonderful woman who handled a wonderful family. If you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t even know she had a mental illness.”

The family said Williams suffered from “nerve issues” all the way back into high school, but it was controllable with medication. They said she kept a beautiful house and handled her family’s finances. Williams was a mother of a 12-year-old and a 22-year-old.

Bell said that before her sister had died, her mother had found a hospital bed at a mental facility in New Orleans that could adequately treat Williams. Now, family members are just hoping to find some answers as to why she died.

“The truth will come out one way or another,” said Bell. “Cabrina deserved better than this.”