Freddie Washington, of Aiken, South Carolina, died after being arrested by the SAPD. He was arrested after an altercation with police officers at a Santa Ana hotel but there are few details about what exactly happened.
His sister, Kenyale Hightower, posted on Facebook that “my Brother Freddie Washington was in Santa Ana and while he was in police custody, he left the hotel on a stretcher after an altercation with the police. He He left the hotel alive and was booked and not transported to the Hospital until Thursday, where he died on Thursday night.”
Hightower also posted that her brother was not intoxicated when he was arrested.
Hightower says that the SAPD investigator is saying it will take months to get information and investigate why her brother died in police custody.
The SAPD did not post about this incident on social media when it happened. As Washington was not apparently shot by the police the SAPD likely felt they could avoid informing the public about what happened.
Another of his sisters, Jasmine, told us that her brother only went to California because of his daughter. He was trying to fight for 50/50 custody with her mom He went up there and didn’t even get to see my niece.”
Another one of Washington’s sisters, Ishia Hammond, has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to bring Washington’s body back home to South Carolina. It will cost about $2,000 to do this. So far they have raised $160.
The SAPD is one of the few cities in Orange County that refuses to post their arrest log so it is difficult to get any information about arrest details. The Santa Ana City Council has never supported making the arrest log public. We ought to encourage them to do so in the name of transparency! You can ask the City Council to consider this here.
Here is the note I sent this morning to the Santa Ana City Council (feel free to copy and use this text): “Santa Ana is one of the few cities in Orange County that refuses to post their police arrest log online. This information should be made public in the name of transparency and to better inform our residents. We deserve to know what is going on in our community with regard to criminal activities. Moreover the log should include the Ward where the crime happened and note the Council Member elected to serve that Ward.”
