Who is lauren smith fields

WATCH: Family of Lauren Smith-Fields continues fight for justice

The family of Lauren Smith-Fields said they are fighting for justice and demanding answers after their daughter was found dead on her apartment room floor shortly after meeting a man on a dating app.

The Connecticut chief medical examiner's office on Monday announced that Smith-Fields' cause of death was "acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol." The medical examiner ruled the manner of death an "accident."

But in a legal notice filed Friday as part of a planned lawsuit against the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the Bridgeport Police Department, Smith-Fields' family alleged that police haven’t properly investigated her death and claimed the department has violated their civil rights.

"Lauren Smith-Fields wasn't given the treatment that she should have been given," Darnell Crosland, the family’s attorney, said in an interview with Good Morning America.

Lauren Smith-Fields via family lawyer

Lauren Smith-Fields is pictured in a selfie photo posted to her Instagram account on April 5, 2021.

Bridgeport police responded to Smith-Fields' home just after 6:30 a.m. on Dec. 12 and found her "lying on her back, on the floor" of her apartment, according to the police report. She "did not appear to be breathing," the report stated.

The man who called 911 told police officers he met Smith-Fields on a dating app three days prior, according to the police report, and this had been their first time meeting.

The man told police they were taking tequila shots before Smith-Fields got sick in the bathroom. He said she went outside briefly, and when she came back in, she went to the bathroom for 10 to 15 minutes, the police report stated.

The man said they continued drinking, and soon they both fell asleep, the report said. He told police that at 3 a.m. he got up and heard her snoring. He woke up later that morning, he said, and saw that blood was coming out her nose and she wasn't breathing.

In the report, officers described the man as "frantic" when he answered the door, adding he was "trembling and visibly shaken."

Lauren Smith-Fields via family lawyer

Lauren Smith-Fields is pictured in a photo posted to her Instagram account on Oct. 9, 2021.

Smith-Fields' family is now planning to sue the city of Bridgeport and the police department, claiming in the filed legal notice that police "failed to implement the proper crime scene investigation team to collect physical evidence" and "refuse to view the last person to see Smith-Fields before she died as a person of interest."

"You expect the police to follow protocol, which is to question the gentleman that was at the scene, take his DNA, compare it to the physical evidence that's present," Crosland said.

In a statement released earlier this month, the city of Bridgeport said the police department "takes these concerns very seriously" and added, "The command staff of the detective bureau is reviewing the handling of this case to ensure that best practices were and are being followed."

This weekend, Smith-Fields’ family and hundreds of others marched through Bridgeport on what would’ve been her 24th birthday.

Her family said the march was not only to honor her, but also to seek justice. They alleged that they have been neglected and mistreated by the police department and are still seeking answers regarding their daughter's death.

"The way they handled her investigation was literally disgraceful, disgusting, horrible. It was not even human," Lakeem Jetter, Smith-Fields' brother, said in an interview with "Good Morning America."

"I just could not believe that my little, my baby sister was gone," Jetter said. "This loss is so devastating to us. I never lost a sibling before. My mother has never lost a child before."

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Lauren Smith-Fields, who died in Bridgeport last month under unexplained circumstances.

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Shantell Fields, Lauren Smith-Fields' mother, stands with family members during a protest rally in front of the Morton Government Center, in Bridgeport, Conn. Jan. 23, 2022. Smith-Fields was found dead in her Bridgeport apartment in December and her family and friends marched in her memory on Sunday, which would have been her 24th birthday. The death of the Black women has her family and the community asking questions about policing, race and victims rights. (Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)

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Family and friends of Lauren Smith-Fields gathered for a protest march in her memory in Bridgeport, Conn. Jan. 23, 2022. Smith-Fields was found dead in her Bridgeport apartment in December and her family and friends marched in her memory on Sunday, which would have been her 24th birthday. The death of the Black women has her family and the community asking questions about policing, race and victims rights. (Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)

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Shantell Fields, Lauren Smith-Fields’ mother, sits with other family members during an interview in the office of Attorney Darnell Crosland, in Stamford, Conn. Jan. 14, 2022. Smith-Fields, 23, was found dead in her Bridgeport apartment in December.

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Weeks after an early morning 911 call brought police to the home of Lauren Smith-Fields, the untimely death of the 23-year-old Bridgeport woman still includes more questions than answers.

Her family has criticized police’s handling of the case and their attorney, Darnell Crosland, has notified the city of the family’s intention to sue. Mayor Joe Ganim has said the city’s Office of Internal Affairs would “conduct a full and fair investigation” into the police’s handling of the case, including the family’s claim that they were not immediately notified of Smith-Fields’ death.

The case is also now in the hands of the Bridgeport narcotics and vice squad, in addition to the department’s detective bureau. Police also said they’d ask for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s help.

As the investigation moves into its second month, here’s what we know and don’t know about the case.

What we know

Chain of events

The police report contains a detailed account of the events, according to her date from the night before, who has been identified in the report and confirmed by his attorney as Matthew LaFountain. He is believed to be the last person to see Smith-Fields alive.

The man, who said he met Smith-Fields on the dating app Bumble, said the two had been drinking and watching a movie in her apartment the night of Dec. 11, and Smith-Fields had fallen asleep on the couch. LaFountain said he then carried her to her bed, and lay down next to her. At about 3 a.m. on Dec. 12, a Sunday, he said he woke up and heard her snoring. When he awoke again at 6:30 a.m. she was lying on her side with blood around her right nostril.

The AMR paramedic pronounced her dead at 6:49 a.m. and said she had been dead at least an hour or more, according to the report.

Cause of death

Smith-Fields died of “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine, and alcohol,” according to the medical examiner’s report released Jan. 24.

Promethazine and hydroxyzine are antihistamines, while fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 100 times stronger than morphine.

High profile interest

Smith-Fields was a local Instagram personality with more than 12,000 followers and her death has drawn attention from multiple news outlets. Locally, officials including Mayor Joe Ganim and state Sen. Marilyn Moore have weighed in.

Ganim, who the family had criticized for his silence on the case, issued a statement this week promising a “full and fair investigation” and offering his support for the family.

Moore, in an op-ed, criticized the city for taking 44 days to respond to the family’s complaints. Moore questioned whether the police response was influenced by race, as Smith-Fields was Black and LaFountain is white.

Suspension of officer

On Jan. 30, Ganim suspended the detectives involved in investigating the deaths of Smith-Fields and another woman, Brenda Lee Rawls.

In a statement and accompanying video, Ganim said he directed Deputy Chief James Baraja, who is filling in for Acting Chief Rebeca Garcia while she is away, to place both Detective Angel Llanos and Detective Kevin Cronin on administrative leave. He said both men are the “subject of a Bridgeport Police Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) Investigation and disciplinary action for lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police policy in the handling of these two matters.”

What we don’t know

Notification delay

It’s unclear why it took more than a day for the family of Smith-Fields to learn that she had died. According to her family, they did not find out until Monday evening, Dec. 13, when they went to her apartment after she had not responded to a series of phone calls and text messages.

When the family arrived, they were greeted by a note on the door with a phone number to call. Their call went to Smith-Fields’ landlord, who informed them she had died. The family has been critical of the delay, and the fact that the responsibility of notifying the family fell to the landlord.

Potential charges

Smith-Fields’ death has been ruled accidental, but the presence of drugs in her system spurred Bridgeport police to request federal help from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

It is unclear at this point if such an investigation will result in charges. Police have not identified anyone as a person of interest or suspect and have not charged anyone in connection with the case.

Potential lawsuits

A lawyer for Smith-Fields’ family has notified the city of intent to sue over the Bridgeport Police Department’s handling of the case. As of Friday, though, he had not filed such a suit.

On Friday, Jan. 21, attorney Darnell Crosland accused police of potentially covering up evidence and failing to properly investigate Smith-Fields’ death. In the notice he cited numerous pieces of evidence he claims were in her apartment but not submitted for forensic analysis.

Attorney Peter Karayiannis, who is representing LaFountain, the man named in the police report, spoke out this week on his client’s behalf, noting he was cooperating with police in the investigation.

While Karayiannis did not say whether LaFountain planned to file a lawsuit, he did not rule out legal action.

Internal investigation

In his statement, Ganim said he had “no tolerance for anything less than respect and sensitivity for family members and their loss.” He announced the case had been referred to the Office of Internal Affairs for a full investigation.

It is not clear, though, if the investigation is limited to the handling of the family’s notification, or includes the larger accusations Crosland made in his notice of intent to sue.

It is also unclear who is the subject of the investigation.