Family voices concerns after man dies in Spartanburg County detention facility
A family is looking for answers after a man died in an Upstate detention center.
The Spartanburg County coroner says Lavell Lane, 29, died at the Spartanburg County Detention Center early Monday morning.
The detention center website showed he was arrested late Sunday night, around five hours before his death, and charged with "pedestrian on street".
“You go from a ticket to death in five hours," Lane's sister Andrea Reese said.
Lane's family says he has a history of mental illness, and they want to know what happened in the hours between his arrest and his death.
"They’re humans," Lane's mother Beverly Lane-Reese said. "They’re human beings and they needed to be treated as such.”
Lane's family claims officials told them Lane ran into the woods when deputies got to him, but he came out when he was told to.
“The arresting officer said, 'come out with your hands up,'" Lane's father Andy Reese said. "He complied with the officer that arrested him outside the prison. But when he got inside the prison, less than five hours later, my son was dead.”
Lane's parents say officials told them Lane was later shocked with a shock weapon at the detention center after his arrest.
The coroner says an autopsy was done, but the results are pending a microscopic analysis, or closer examination of his body, and toxicology reading.
Lane's family says they want to see any body camera footage leading up to Lane's death.
“We are not pointing fingers, but we want full accountability taken, but we want full accountability taken if deemed necessary and appropriate," attorney Rasheda Robinson said.
The sheriff's office says this is still an active investigation by the coroner's office and SLED.
According to a background check, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office responded to an incident involving Lane just four days earlier, and Lane was arrested and charged with assault and battery.
He also had previous trespassing charges out of New York.
Lane's family says he moved from New York to South Carolina around 15 days before his death.