There are now more claims that Cleveland Police may have played a part in Kevin McQueen’s death.
In September, friends rushed him to the hospital with gunshot wound. Police pulled the car transporting him over and witnesses say it took 20 minutes for police to let them continue on to the ER.
Police aren’t giving many details, but according to the driver of the van transporting McQueen to the hospital, everyone in the car was handcuffed, and forced to wait 20 minutes, face first, on the ground, while police did criminal records checks.
All the while, McQueen was dying in the backseat of the car.
Monique Golson was behind the wheel and McQueen was in her backseat. He was shot and barely holding on to life.
“I know if they’d let us get there, he died an hour later, maybe if he wouldn’t have bled out so long, he might have made it, you know? And I’ve got to live with that because I shouldn’t have stopped, now I got to live with the fact that I stopped,” said Golson.
It’s a drive she replays in her head daily. With McQueen in the backseat, she and two friends left her Lakeview Terrace apartment and took off for Metro Health.
“I’m running every light, every stop sign, because I’m trying to get him to the hospital fast,” she said.
According to police, Golson was pulled over less than one mile from Metro Health on Storer Avenue. All the while, she says she plead with police to let them proceed to the ER.
“They don’t care. They pull their guns out, pull us out the car, put us on the ground, handcuff us, run our names, run the van name,” she said.
CPD has a very clear policy for medical trauma response. If it’s known that someone pulled over, or in police custody is experiencing trauma, police must do one of three things: Wait for EMS to arrive, immediately transport the person to the hospital, or provide trauma aid.
According to police records, officers did provide first aid to McQueen and they did call for EMS, but it was not until a sergeant arrived on scene that police decided to bring McQueen to the ER.
“Straight to Metro, I might have been two stop signs from Metro,” said Golson.
Police have body camera footage of the incident that would be able to show how long the van was actually pulled over. They are not releasing that footage because McQueen’s death is still an active homicide investigation.
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