Preliminary autopsy by Colin Kaepernick's foundation finds no trace of drugs in 67-year-old who died in police custody
Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in protest of police brutality in 2016 before ultimately becoming a free agent and not getting signed again. Since then, he's put his focus into civil rights activism and trying to continue the fight he started by kneeling.
His organization did an autopsy on an elderly man who died in police custody because the police believed he was high on meth and arrested him for being under the influence.
Gilbert Gil, 67, died in custody after getting arrested twice for being under the influence. A preliminary autopsy from Colin Kaepernick's foundation found no drugs. kens5.com/article/news/i…
However, the autopsy did not reveal any drugs in the man's system. The man, Gilbert Gil, was 67 years old and suffered from diabetes and dementia.
His daughter, Jennifer Schmidt, is suing the authorities because the police mistook his dementia for a drug-induced state and arrested him, which may have caused his untimely death.
They arrested the man twice in three days. A statement claimed that the medical examiner found drugs in his system:
"The Medical Examiner's Office conducted the autopsy of Gil today. Gil tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine. The cause and manner of death are pending laboratory results and further evaluation."
However, Kaepernick's group, Know Your Rights, did an autopsy and came to a different conclusion. According to 11Alive:
"A preliminary autopsy found that Gil did not die from any heart-related issues and did not have clots which would bolster claims that he died from COVID-19... It did find, according to Schmidt's legal claim, that Gil died from asphyxiation, his toes, and fingers had turned blue from a lack of oxygen."
Schmidt has been working with local groups as well as Kaepernick's to find justice.
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Colin Kaepernick's protest timeline
In 2016, during the preseason, Colin Kaepernick began kneeling with his then-teammate Eric Reid. The following free agency cycle, the team told him they weren't re-signing him and he became a free agent, which he remains to this day.
Many believe that his protests strongly influenced that decision as the NFL and NFL owners were not as open-minded towards the protests as they might seem today.
Regardless, the ex-quarterback walked the walk after being preemptively 'exiled' from the NFL. He started the Know Your Rights group and continues to seek out ways to help the community and continue the conversation his kneeling attempted to start.
This case with Gilbert Gil and Jennifer Schmidt is one of the more high-profile cases they've been involved with, but they are actively trying to make a difference.