A North Texas mother is pleading for answers after her 24-year-old son died while in police custody.
On Monday, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office released a statement stating that Shamond Lewis was transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital after "a medical episode" while in jail.
Sophia Lewis says she is a mother grieving the loss of her son and a lack of answers.
“I have questions. I want to know what happened,” she said.
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Lewis says that on September 22, she received a call from someone at her son’s apartment complex in Dallas.
Her son had reportedly been involved in a physical confrontation with someone outside his apartment. Lewis was armed with a knife, his mother said.
Lewis says she drove to the scene and told responding sheriff deputies her mentally ill son was likely suffering an episode.
She tells NBC 5 that he struggled with psychosis schizophrenia.
Lewis says instead of being taken to the hospital for a mental evaluation, her son was booked into jail on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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According to the DCSO, Lewis was taken to Parkland on September 23 "after a medical episode at the Dallas County Jail."
Lewis says she received a call from the hospital days later and rushed to see her son.
“I was shocked,” she said. “His physical state was not how he was when I last seen my son.”
Lewis snapped pictures of her son’s body and injuries she fears he may have sustained while in police custody.
Doctors said Lewis suffered brain swelling and had to undergo surgery on his arm to remove damaged tissue, she said.
Lewis insists no one from law enforcement has provided her with basic information about what happened.
She says a doctor told her Lewis had reportedly become aggressive in jail, was restrained and became unconscious.
“How long was he restrained? What happened to him prior to him being restrained,” she asked.
Lewis died in the hospital on September 30.
His mother also wants to know why he was jailed and not hospitalized.
The spokesperson for the DCSO says "regardless of offense, responding officers determine whether a mental evaluation is needed."
It is not clear at this time whether responding deputies did not see the need for a mental evaluation and why.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office is DCSO’s designated investigative agency for in-custody deaths, according to DCSO.
Authorities are investigating whether Lewis was restrained, how he was restrained and why.
Surveillance video is also being reviewed.
The 24-year-old had a criminal background, but he also had documented mental illness.
In 2018, a Dallas County judge declared him "incompetent to stand trial," according to online court records.
Lewis was ordered to undergo mental health help.
As she prepares to bury her son, Lewis says whatever it is, she just wants the truth.
“That’s what I’m here for. The truth,” she said. “What happened to my son?”
