The 'Accidental' Death of Natasha McKenna, Killed in Police Restraints
LatestFor unknown reasons—just kidding, I’ve got a guess or two—Natasha McKenna’s violent and senseless death in police custody hasn’t gotten much national attention in the months since she (a 5’2” woman, weighing 130 pounds) was taken from her Fairfax County jail cell to be transported to Alexandria, Virginia: a process which apparently required her to be restrained by six men, put in handcuffs, leg shackles, and a face mask, and then Tasered repeatedly.
There is a yet-unseen video of this incident, which ends in an unconscious McKenna being removed from the jail by ambulance and taken to a hospital, where she died five days later.
McKenna was wanted in Alexandria for assaulting a police officer, and reportedly, she had also attempted to assault an officer within the Fairfax jail. Though she initially submitted to having her hands cuffed for transportation to Alexandria, it’s easily conceivable that she panicked and subsequently reacted violently to the presence of six men wearing full-body biohazard suits and carrying sticks who were ostensibly there to get her into a police van but were obviously prepared to Taser her into cardiac arrest, six on one. It’s worth noting that the original incident she was charged for involved the same thing: six police officers descending on McKenna when she was “seen acting strange” at a car dealership on January 15.
Diagnosed as schizophrenic since the age of 12, McKenna was not actually arrested for this incident at the dealership; in fact, according to WUSA, “sources say the warrant was issued so that she could receive treatment in jail.” She stayed in Inova Mt. Vernon Hospital’s mental health unit temporarily, and then was released.