Atlanta, May 23 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of Georgia, the gruesome death of Lashawn Thompson, a 35-year-old Black man, in the Fulton County Jail last year has been ruled a homicide due to “severe neglect.” 

The findings of the independent autopsy were released by Thompson’s family and civil rights attorney Ben Crump.  Thompson was being held in the jail’s psychiatric wing, where his family says he was “eaten alive” by insects and bedbugs in his cell. 

The report found the lack of treatment for Thompson’s schizophrenia, as well as dehydration, malnutrition, rapid weight loss and “severe body insect infestation,” all contributed to his death. 

Thompson’s independent autopsy, which was funded by former NFL star Colin Kaepernick, came after the Fulton County medical examiner ruled his cause of death was “undetermined.”