What happened to Tanisha Anderson?

 

The family of Tanisha Anderson, 37, was watching from her family house in east Cleveland when she was taken into custody last November and, they say, slammed onto the pavement and handcuffed. At some point during the fatal police encounter – one of the many overlooked cases of women killed by police – she stopped breathing. Anderson was dead by the time she arrived at the hospital. 

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The coroner ruled Anderson’s death a homicide, but prosecutors have yet to announce whether charges will be brought. Tanisha was so much more than the “mentally ill woman” as she was described in some news reports about her death, and that the night she died was the first time in years they needed to call 911 for help on Tanisha’s behalf. For much of her life, the family said, Anderson had been a good student who dreamed of becoming a broadcast journalist. In her 20s, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and placed on medication. On November 12th, 2014, Tanisha was having one of her “bad days”. Wearing only in a nightgown, with no shoes on, Tanisha was disoriented and kept trying to leave the house. Joell Anderson – who as a child had been his two sisters’ appointed protector, walking them to school every day, warning them off strangers – was the one who made the first 911 call. Two sets of police officers arrived instead of an ambulance. Anderson seemed calmer for a time, but then the family called again. The second set of cops, they claim, were ruder and brusquer. They were Detective Scott Aldridge, a seven-year veteran of the force, and his partner Brian Meyers. They told the family to stay in the house and walked Anderson to their patrol car. 

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Within half an hour of the second police visit, Tanisha Anderson was lying on the pavement, handcuffed and not breathing. She arrived at the hospital, the coroner’s report says, in full cardiopulmonary arrest and could not be revived. Her death, the coroner would rule, was a homicide, with the cause listed as “sudden death in association with physical restraint in a prone position in association with ischemic heart disease and bipolar disorder with agitation”. An investigation is pending against the two officers; as was the practice with Rice’s investigation, it was first handled as a matter of internal discipline, then handed to the prosecutor’s office. In an email to the Guardian, the office stated: “That’s an ongoing investigation, and we have no comment.”   

 

What can we do? 

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1. Share her story