Protesters want ASO to take accountability, for a baby that died as her mom gave birth in jail

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Protester blocked the streets at the Alachua County jail. On August 9, this is where Gainesville resident Erica Thompson had contractions starting from the moment sheriff’s deputies showed up at her door to arrest her.

To charge her with felony violation of probation and failure to appear on a traffic charge. Thompson gave birth in jail and her baby later died at the hospital.

“If someone has a medical problem you shouldn’t ignore them just because they’re in jail or they committed a crime, nobody deserves to go what I went through nobody deserves to be in pain, no one deserves to die in jail. Like no deserves that I don’t care who you are or what you do,” said Thompson.

Protesters said they want the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office to take accountability for their role in the death.

“This part of a larger problem, so she was ignored, and unfortunately because of the way things played out again, her child died. so we want to see accountability from the sheriff’s office, we want an apology and again we want to see the law changed,” said Danielle Chanzes.

That law is called Eva’s law and it’s meant to protect incarcerated women and infants and to prevent any woman from giving birth in a jail cell.

Ben Frazier traveled from Jacksonville said this should have never happened.

“This is innocent blood this is a child, they are our most important resource. what happened to erica was wrong, they should stop attempting to defend it and they should simply admit the truth that what they did was heinous and horrific.”

The protesters said they won’t stop advocating for erica until their demands are met.

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