Yahoo Finance 14-Year-Old Michigan Girl Who Was Once Handcuffed at Gunpoint by Police Dies of COVID-19 Complications
gofundme Honestie Hodges
Honestie Hodges — a Michigan girl who was once handcuffed at gunpoint by police, sparking calls for reform and justice — has died from complications related to the novel coronavirus, according to her family.
The 14-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 9 and was admitted to the intensive care unit at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids later that day, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by Hodges' grandmother, Alisa Niemeyer, in support of the family.
"It is with an extremely heavy heart that I have to tell all of you that my beautiful, sassy, smart loving Granddaughter has gone home to be with Jesus," Niemeyer said in an update on Sunday.
According to the grandmother, Hodges faced a series of complications during her hospitalization, including an elevated heart rate and "issues associated with her brain."
gofundme Honestie Hodges
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Niemeyer also said that Hodges was on a ventilator and received a blood transfusion while at the hospital.
In December 2017, Hodges was at the center of a police controversy when she was handcuffed at gunpoint by Grand Rapid Police Department officers as they searched for a suspect in an alleged stabbing. Body cam footage of the incident showed Hodges — who was 11 at the time — crying as she pleaded with officers not to detain her, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Though Grand Rapids Police Chief David Rahinsky said he felt "nauseated" watching the body camera video, the department later cleared the officers involved in the incident following an investigation, citing that they had not violated any policies, the Associated Press reported.
The incident and subsequent public outcry led to the development of the "Honestie policy," a multi-step plan for how officers should interact with children.
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