A New Bill is Being Proposed in Response to Lauren Smith-Fields & Brenda Lee Rawls Cases

Bridgeport lawmakers have proposed House Bill 5349 following the deaths of Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls last December.

With both Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls living in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the time of their untimely deaths on December 12th, local lawmakers have responded with the proposal of a new bill. According to Connecticut Post, legislation has proposed House Bill 5349 would require officers who respond to or encounter “a deceased person or the remains of a person” to notify next of kin within 24 hours of the person's identification.

If the notification doesn't arise, officers are then required to “document the reason for the failure or delay of notification and any attempts made to make such notification.”

Darnell Crosland, a lawyer representing the families of Smith-Fields and Rawls, said they “are in favor of the bill and actually fought hard to have the proposal put before the legislature.”

While the two deaths are unrelated, Smith-Fields and Rawls were found unresponsive on December 12th. Smith-Fields met with Bumble date Matthew LaFountain the prior evening, where the two allegedly drank tequila, prompting 23-year-old Smith-Fields to fall ill. The next morning, LaFountain called police after discovering blood leaking from an unresponsive Smith-Fields’ right nostril. Smith-Fields also wasn’t breathing, and her autopsy showed that her cause of death was acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine, and alcohol.

According to Newsweek, On December 11th, 53-year-old Rawls went to visit a male acquaintance who didn't live too far from her. Two days after, Rawls' sister Dorothy Rawls Washington attempted to contact her via phone. On December 12th, Washington, her niece and niece's boyfriend went to the home of Rawls' acquaintance. He then allegedly said that on December 12th, he couldn't wake Rawls up and that she'd died. Following an investigation, NBC Connecticut reported that The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Rawls died of natural causes.

On March 9th at 10 AM via Zoom, House Bill 5349 will be subject to a public hearing before the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee.