Hospital: Treatment, discharge of woman who died appropriate

KNOXVILLE (AP) — A woman who died after being discharged from a Tennessee hospital and forced to leave despite her pleas for more help received appropriate medical treatment, the hospital said, but changes were being made to security procedures.

The findings from an internal investigation by Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville over its treatment of 60-year-old Lisa Edwards were released Tuesday, news outlets reported.

Security officers at the hospital called police Feb. 5 saying that Edwards had been evaluated and discharged, but was refusing to leave. Four responding police officers were investigated for repeatedly ignoring her pleas for help as they accused her of faking illness.

The Knox County District Attorney’s office said it would not press criminal charges against the officers after an autopsy determined that Edwards died of a stroke and that “at no time did law enforcement interaction cause or contribute to Ms. Edwards’ death.”

A video released by police showed officers struggle for about 25 minutes to move Edwards into a police van and finally a cruiser. Edwards repeatedly asks for help but is rebuffed by officers and hospital security guards who become frustrated with her inability to step up into the van and tell her she is faking her incapacity.

After she is placed in a police cruiser, video shows Edwards trying to pull herself upright repeatedly, but eventually she slumps over out of sight. Several minutes later, one of the officers performs a traffic stop on another vehicle while Edwards remains in the backseat.

When he opens the rear door, Edwards is unresponsive. He calls dispatch for an ambulance, telling them, “I don’t know if she’s faking it or what, but she’s not answering me.”

Edwards was pronounced dead at the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center the following day.

The hospital said it conducted a thorough internal investigation of Edwards’ care and found that her “medical treatment and hospital discharge were clinically appropriate.”

The hospital also reviewed security procedures and said changes were being made. Several security officers who were working at the facility when Edwards was removed are no longer employed, the hospital said.

“In addition, we are implementing empathy training for security officers serving on behalf of Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and Covenant Health,” the statement said.

Arkansas House OKs bill allowing permitless concealed carry

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A permit would not be required to carry a concealed handgun in Arkansas under a bill lawmakers sent Thursday to Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which supporters say is meant to clear up a decade-old disagreement about the state’s gun laws.

Sanders’ office said she plans to sign the measure approved by the majority-Republican House on a 81-11 vote.

“The governor strongly supports the Second Amendment,” spokeswoman Alexa Henning said in a statement. “This bill further clarifies that Arkansas is a constitutional carry state.”

Both gun rights and gun control advocates already widely considered Arkansas to be one of more than two dozen states that doesn’t require a concealed carry permit. That’s followed a 2013 change to the state’s gun laws that’s prompted differing interpretations on how it’s affected the state’s concealed carry requirements.

The bill was approved Thursday with no debate in the House, but opponents have questioned the impact the legislation would have on a 2017 law that allows concealed handguns in certain locations, including the state Capitol. That law allows guns in the previously-barred locations if someone undergoes additional training and gets an “enhanced” permit.

“This is going to cause huge amounts of confusion with respect to the enhanced concealed carry,” Democratic Rep. Nicole Clowney told members of the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week, referring to the 2017 law.

But supporters of the bill said it wouldn’t have any impact on that part of the law and the enhanced carry requirements would still exist.

“I believe we need this bill to pass to provide that clarification out there so we don’t have citizens basically being harassed because there’s a misunderstanding of what you can or cannot do,” Republican Rep. Marcus Richmond, the bill’s co-sponsor, told the House before Thursday’s vote.

There are more than 190,000 active concealed handgun licenses in Arkansas, and about 30,000 of them are enhanced licenses, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

The bill heads to Sanders’ desk as Republicans in other states have been loosening gun laws, despite mass shootings in recent years, including the fatal shooting of three children and three adults at a Nashville, Tennessee, Christian school last month.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this week signed a new law that will allow concealed handguns to be carried without a permit. That law takes effect in July.

When Sanders signs Arkansas’ legislation, it won’t take effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns its session, meaning the measure wouldn’t be enforced until this summer.

Flight data recorders found after deadly Black Hawk crash

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Investigators recovered “black boxes” from two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters that crashed last week in Kentucky, killing all nine soldiers aboard, the military announced Tuesday.

A U.S. Army aviation safety team from Fort Rucker, Alabama, found the flight data recorders, which are commonly referred to as black boxes in civilian aircraft, from the HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, a news release from the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) said. The helicopters crashed near Fort Campbell during a nighttime training exercise on March 29. The recorders have been sent to Fort Rucker for further analysis.

“The duration of the investigation is determined by the thorough analysis of all factors,” division spokesman Lt. Col. Tony Hoefler said in the news release.

The pilots were using night-vision goggles during the exercise, Army officials said. Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 101st Airborne deputy commander, has said the accident occurred while the helicopters were flying and not during a medical evacuation drill.

The soldiers’ remains have been taken to Dover Air Force Base, which is home to the Joint Service Mortuary Affairs Office, officials said.

Three of the soldiers killed in the crash were posthumously promoted to the next higher grade, officials said: Sgt. Emilie Marie Eve Bolanos, 23, of Austin, Texas; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Zachary Esparza, 36, of Jackson, Missouri; and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Aaron Healy, 32, of Cape Coral, Florida.

The others killed were Warrant Officer 1 Jeffery Barnes, 33, of Milton, Florida; Sgt. Isaacjohn Gayo, 27, of Los Angeles, California; Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Gore, 25, of Morehead City, North Carolina; Staff Sgt. Taylor Mitchell, 30, of Mountain Brook, Alabama; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Rusten Smith, 32, of Rolla, Missouri; and Sgt. David Solinas Jr., 23, of Oradell, New Jersey, the Army said.