(WKYT) – Friends and family of a Wayne County Detention Center inmate want to know what exactly happened in his cell in the moments before his death.
Kentucky State Police say that Elisha Turpin,40, of Monticello collapsed in his cell, suffering a medical emergency. Turpin was then transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead by the Wayne County Coroner’s Office.
“My brother didn’t have to die,” said Jackie Reed, Turpin’s sister. “He could still be alive today seeing his nieces and nephews and his daughter.”
911 call reveals moments before death
WKYT obtained the 911 call from the morning of Turpin’s death through an open records request. At around 1:30 on Tuesday, Oct. 13, a woman who identifies as a detention center deputy asked for emergency responders.
“We need somebody over at the jail detention center, please. We’ve got one that’s blue and he’s got a faint heartbeat,” she said to the dispatcher.
Turpin’s condition appears to worsen throughout the recording.
“And he is still breathing, right?” the dispatcher asks at one point.
“They just said that you need to hurry. That’s all I got out of them,” the deputy responds.
Wayne County Coroner Gordin Hicks says Turpin died at the Wayne County Hospital at 1:59 a.m., less than 30 minutes after the 911 call was placed. Now, his friends and family ask why more wasn’t done to save his life.
Relatives question response
“They know something was going on, bottom line,” said Danny Reed, Turpin’s Brother-in-Law. “They know something was going on way before they called 911.”
Within the first seconds of the call, the detention center deputy tells the dispatcher that staff have placed Turpin “on surveillance.”
“Do you know what happened to him?” the dispatcher asks.
“He did… I don’t know how much information I’m allowed to give. We’ve got him on surveillance… he’s been observed because he done something he shouldn’t have done,” the deputy responds.
“She said, ‘I don’t know how much information I can give out or something like that,’” said Jackie Reed, Turpin’s sister, recalling the portion of the 911 call. “But, to me, I would think, at that severe of a point, that it shouldn’t matter because, you know, if somebody’s blue, they’re obviously done.”
Calls for help
The call does not explain why Turpin was being observed. Friends told WKYT that he had possibly been calling for help for hours before the 911 call was made.
One woman asked to speak with us anonymously for fear of backlash against other Wayne County Detention Center inmates she knows personally.
“I spoke with a couple of girls that I know that are in there and they said they could hear him screaming, ‘I can’t breathe,’” she said. “So, that means he has been asking for help this whole time. Our rights should never be withheld from us, especially our medical rights.”
On the 911 call, the deputy said staff was using an ammonia stick to try to wake Turpin. The call never clarifies whether staff initiated CPR or if it was medically indicated.
About one minute into the call, someone in the background of the recording says that Turpin has a “faint pulse” and is “barely breathing.”
“So you guys aren’t doing CPR?” the dispatcher asks.
“No, not just yet, no,” someone responds.
Pushing for change
Now, friends and family say they are pleading for change.
“If you all have a family member inside of those walls, please stand up for what we’re standing for right now,” said Kendall Thompson, Turpin’s friend. “Let your voice be heard. That, you know, some change needs to happen. And it needs to happen quick before something like this happens again. Elisha’s life could have been saved.”
“I just hope that there’s enough light brought to this that… when people say they need help out in these jails that they are actually getting help,” said Jackie Turbin.