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Watch News 4 coverage: Woman dies whille in custody

(KMOV) - News 4 has obtained an audio tape of the emergency radio calls the night a woman died after being held in the St. Louis Justice Center.

The tape supports a paramedic's complaint that she could not reach the patient inside the jail for eight critical minutes.

That 9-1-1 call from the St. Louis Justice Center at 1:38 a.m. on April 11th was about Lavonda Kimble, 30. Kimble had been brought to the jail 10 hours earlier for failing to appear in court for two traffic tickets. While in custody she suffered a severe asthma attack, but as paramedics arrived on the scene they couldn't find any jail personnel to take them to the patient. Kimble would be pronounced dead an hour later.  The paramedic would later write, it had taken 8 minutes to get to Kimble.

"The care our patient received prior to STLFD personnel {arriving} was substandard at best, and the fact that we were not able to reach the patient immediately was detrimental to the patient's outcome."  She goes further by saying, "Every time I've been to the justice center it takes 10 to 15 minutes to even get to the patient. There is never anyone to guide us and never any sense of urgency."  Now News 4 has obtained this May 30th Corrections Division Internal Affairs report. The report downplays the paramedic's complaints.

Medical care at the justice center is provided by a private Creve Coeur company called CMS.

A spokesman has said all jail nursing personnel are properly licensed to perform their duties.

Mayor Slay's office says the City's Public Safety office is now conducting its own investigation into Kimble's death.

Tragically, Kimble wasn't even supposed to be jailed. Her $ 250 bond had been paid hours before she became ill, but a miscommunication kept word from reaching the jail.

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(KMOV) -- An autopsy report is raising more questions about the sudden death of a woman just hours after she arrived at the St. Louis jail.

The city's deputy medical examiner says that LaVonda Kimble might not have died if she'd been moved to a hospital.

LaVonda Kimble arrived at the St. Louis Justice Center on April 10^th and within 12 hours she was dead.

Now an autopsy report obtained by News 4, shows Kimble had no illegal drugs in her system and died from acute bronchial asthma.

Kimble, who was taken to jail for failing to appear in court for two traffic violations, was treated at the jail infirmary.

Once on the scene, it took paramedics eight minutes to get to Kimble inside the jail.

In a fire department report, a paramedic wrote, "The care our patient received prior to STLFD personnel (arriving) was sub-standard at best and the fact that we were not able to reach the patient immediately was detrimental to the patient's outcome."

A supplement to the autopsy report reveals that a special toxicology test was run looking for the presence of albuterol, which is the first line of defense with an asthma attack. The test came back negative.

Dr. Burch says Kimble's severely constricted airways could have restricted her ability to process the albuterol. He's not sure how much, but he does know that Kimble wasn't even supposed to be at the jail when she first became ill. Her $250 bond had been paid in north St. Louis County, but St. Louis police were not notified.

A private company called CMS, provides medical care at the jail.

A CMS spokesman said that all of its nurses are properly licensed to provide the care required by their positions.

He also said that a number of factors can influence whether albuterol would show up in a toxicology test.

Mayor Slay's spokesman says that public safety director Sam Simon's office has now launched a new investigation into Kimble's death.