Former Kelso, WA resident Julia Weed was 13 ½ weeks pregnant on June 6th, 2013, when she was arrested by Longview police. Julia describes the encounter when the officer on the scene approached her:
“I ended up being thrown into the side of someone's car next to us and pushed up against it a few more times because I was trying to keep my stomach off of it and then shoved to the ground where two more piled on top of me. I had a ring on my hand which had caught on the ground underneath my chest keeping me from giving them my hand. I told them my hand was stuck and they continued to pull on my arm which ended up cutting my hand and crushing my ring. During all this my son's dad was yelling at them that I was pregnant over and over and to get off me that I was pregnant. One of the officers turned around and told him to "shut up or he was next."
Julia was then shoved into the police vehicle, and taken to the Cowlitz County Jail for booking and processing. She describes what happened next:
“While being booked in to jail I started bleeding...I had suffered enough damage to my stomach I had started to hemorrhage from the placenta. The booking officer refused to let me use the bathroom as I was bleeding down my legs I informed of my pregnancy and bleeding her response was no I couldn't use the bathroom that I could take care of it up in my cell. They didn't transport me to the hospital I was later transferred to medical unit after my cell mates complained enough that I needed to be transferred because of my situation. While in medical unit I had my vitals checked once and I was given one prenatal vitamin a few days after arriving the day before I was bailed out. I was sent to my cell in bloody clothes had to change a few times due to the blood. They didn't care at all.”
The Cowlitz County Jail is notorious for refusing medical treatment to people in its care. During this same time period from 2013-2014, 4 people held at the Cowlitz County Jail died due to lack of medical attention. The Cowlitz County Sherriff’s office has refused to pursue a serious investigation, and the families of the 4 victims have been forced to seek compensation in civil courts.
Julia’s own ordeal turned from traumatic to tragic. Due to the complications, she writes,
“I went onto full labor June 27th ended up in the hospital overnight my contractions slowed down enough to go home. The next morning I was in full labor again and ended up in the hospital I had been bleeding so much and for so long the blood had been clothing inside me and I had lost enough blood to the point where I almost needed a blood transfusion. My son was born with all ten toes and fingers and a heartbeat. Myself his dad and my mom all had to sit there and watch him die in our hands. There was nothing that could be done. We held him for three hours before his chest stopped moving. He was helpless and didn't deserve to lose his life.”
The charges which Ms. Weed was originally arrested on were dropped due to the severity of the brutal treatment she received from the police and the jail staff. They were never indicted however, and no official investigation into the incident was launched. Julia obtained a lawyer and started a federal case against them for the past two years, but proceedings have been stalled, and the officers and jail staff have falsified their statements and records regarding the incident, and the city and county are fighting any settlement. The officer who brutalized Ms. Weed did not receive any repercussions for his actions, and is still on the street.
Concerned citizens are encouraged to contact the WA State Attorney General, Bob Ferguson, and demand an investigation into the ongoing prisoner abuse and brutality at the Cowlitz County Jail and the Longview PD at: (360) 753-6200.
Interested parties and media can contact Ms. Weed at her email address for information regarding her story at: juliaweed360@gmail.com