SYRACUSE -- Onondaga County admits its employees' negligence caused the death of a pregnant jail inmate three years ago from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
21-year-old Chuniece Patterson died at the Onondaga County Justice Center jail just hours after complaining in her cell of shortness of breath.
In 2010, the New York State Commission of Correction issued a report concerning Patterson’s death. The reports stated that, "had Patterson received adequate and competent medical care, her death would have been prevented."
Patterson was booked into the detention center on November 10, 2009, on a bench warrant for numerous mischief, weapons, theft, and contempt charges. That month, Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh said Patterson was seen by a registered nurse after complaining of shortness of breath while being held in the county jail.
Click here to read more from the report.
A damages trial to determine how much the county must pay the inmate's family will be held in state Supreme Court.
