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Activist plans protest over Sherman County jail death

Screen Shot 2015-08-14 at 8.25.39 AMTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka activist is planning a protest over the 2014 death of a 58-year-old woman in a western Kansas jail.

Brenda Sewell of Kansas City, Missouri, was arrested in Sherman County in January 2014 after a traffic stop on her way home from Colorado. She was arrested for possessing an ounce of marijuana. She collapsed and died in her cell.

Her relatives contend jailers in Sherman County refused to give her prescription medication and were slow to help after she collapsed.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation declined to investigate Sewell’s death because Sewell died of natural causes. Authorities have also cleared the jailers of wrongdoing.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Sonny Scroggins is planning the demonstration Saturday in a Kansas City park. He says any deaths in custody raise concerns.

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