Content Warning: Details may be disturbing for some viewers.
NORMAN, Okla. ( KFOR ) — A new lawsuit says video backs up claims the “Cookie Queen,” Shannon Hanchett, was abused while in the Cleveland County Jail.
The revised lawsuit alleges Cleveland County Detention Officers and Turn Key Health Clinics staff refused care, falsified records and mocked Hanchett as she went through a mental health crisis.
38-year-old Shannon Hanchett was arrested at a cell phone store in November of 2022.
Her husband, Daniel Hanchett, filed a federal lawsuit earlier this year, but a federal judge ruled there wasn’t enough proof to move forward.
Now weeks later, an amended complaint outlines new evidence.
“It’s been a huge loss for this entire community, but I think that also what’s been so hard is that we have seen no justice for her,” said Kate Bierman Day, a close friend.
The lawsuit names the Cleveland County Sheriff, the jails healthcare provider, three jail mental health professionals and references video footage that is not available to the public.
“I’m devastated that something like this could happen in our community,” said Day.
The video footage, which News 4 has not seen, allegedly shows detention officers passing by periodically with jugs of water and not offering any to Hanchett.
The lawsuit claims this happened several times over nine days and caused Hanchett to become severely dehydrated.
Hanchett’s condition reportedly worsened as the days progressed.
According to the lawsuit, when the jail staff finally entered Hanchett’s cell, she struggled to stand up on her own.
The filings say a Turn Key Health Services Nurse falsified a document stating that Hanchett refused to have her vital signs taken.
‘Because I’m Jewish?’: Possible hate crime attack under investigation in Norman “The people who mocked her, who ignored her, who effectively tortured her and then falsified records in an effort to protect their own jobs, they are still employed,” said Day.
According to the lawsuit, with her health deteriorating rapidly, video shows two Cleveland County Detention Officers attempting to remove Hanchett from the holding cell.
Unresponsive and too weak to move on her own, a detention officer grabbed Hanchett by the arms and dragged her naked across the entire length of a concrete hallway.
Despite not being able to move on her own, medical staff continued to refuse to transfer Hanchett to the hospital. She was instead moved to the jail’s medical unit, where it’s alleged the staff and other detainee’s mocked her.
Less than three hours before her death, a nurse wrote that Hanchett refused water, however, lawsuit alleges that video footage does not show this exchange.
Hanchett’s attorney, Daniel Smolen, sent News 4 a statement.
What she went through was an imaginable horror. No person deserves to die in such an awful way.
Daniel Smolen, Civil Rights Attorney
Smolen also told News 4 the video that has not been seen by the public, will not be released while under a protective order.
According to the lawsuit, jail staff discovered Hanchett unresponsive less than eight hours before she was scheduled for a court-ordered mental health evaluation.
News 4 reached out to both the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office and Turn Key Health Clinics for comment, but did not hear back.
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