Family, TikTokers Demand Answers From Police After Woman Dies During Bumble Date

The family of a Connecticut woman is demanding answers after she died mysteriously while on a Bumble date.

Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, was found unresponsive at her Bridgeport apartment on Dec. 12 after a 37-year-old man she met on the dating site Bumble and had gone on a date with, called police, NBC News reports. The man apparently told Bridgeport Police that he and Smith-Fields drank tequila before Smith-Fields became ill, NBC New York reports. He claimed he brought Smith-Fields to her bedroom and laid her in her bed before going to sleep next to her. The man reportedly told police that he woke up to find Smith-Fields not breathing, with blood coming out of her right nostril. 

The Bridgeport Police are not considering the man a suspect or even a person of interest. And Smith-Field's family is demanding answers.

"They wanted us to forget about our daughter, their sister, our loved one," Smith-Fields' mother, Shantell Fields, told WNBC. "They thought they were just going to throw her away like she was garbage, like she wasn't important, like she didn't have family members who loved her.”

She is vowing to fight for her daughter and Darnell Crosland, an attorney for the family, has already taken action. He filed a notice on Friday alleging that acting Assistant Police Chief Rebeca Garcia, Mayor Joseph Ganim, and three other police department employees violated the rights of Smith-Fields and her family. It accuses them of not providing due process to them.

"The Police Department has been racially insensitive to this family and has treated this family with no respect and has violated their civil rights," the notice states."They have failed to investigate this matter, and they refuse to view the last person with Lauren Smith-Fields before she died as a person of interest. This behavior is unacceptable."

Lakeem Jetter, Smith-Fields's brother, told WNBC that police didn’t contact them or collect evidence at the scene.

"I feel like because he's a white guy and she's a Black girl, they're just throwing it under the rug," Jetter said, adding that police referred to the Bumble date as “a nice guy" in their initial report. 

The police department has not immediately responded to Oxygen.com’s request for comment.

In a statement, obtained by NBC, they stated that the "investigation remains open and active."

"The Detective Bureau is awaiting the final report from the Chief Medical Examiner's Office for cause and manner of death of Ms. Smith-Fields," the statement reads. "The Bridgeport Police Department offers it's sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Lauren Smith-Fields."

A cause of death has yet to be determined for Smith-Fields, a Norwalk Community College student who also worked as an eyebrow specialist. Crosland has not immediately responded to Oxygen.com’s request for comment. He noted on Twitter on Monday that Sunday would have been the woman’s 24th birthday.

Hundreds took to the streets on Sunday to demand justice for her on her birthday, demanding that her death be properly investigated, the Connecticut Post reports. People across the nation are also demanding justice, some through TikTok videos, the Daily Voice reports.