On Sunday, Honestie Hodges died at the age of 14, who was handcuffed at the age of 11 in front of her home in Michigan in an event that sparked national outrage.
Her grandmother, Alisa Niemeyer, told internet posts that the 14-year-old died in Covid-19.
“I have to tell you all with an extremely heavy heart that my beautiful, cheeky, smart loving granddaughter went home to be with Jesus,” Niemeyer posted on the GoFundMe fundraising website.
Fundraising was started to help Honestie’s family cover the cost of treatment and pay for other forms of care, such as food and rent, as her mother had to stop working while her daughter was in hospital.
The fundraising page features a number of pictures of Honestie with her family and friends, as well as a picture of the candlelight vigil held in honor of the week.
“It could be a vice president one day, or maybe a president,” Niemeyer told Wood TV local news on Monday. – The world was open to him.
Niemeyer said Honestie gave a positive result for Covid-19 on her birthday on Nov. 9 and was sent back to her home in Grand Rapids. Later in the evening, ambulances took him to the hospital after suffering from stomach aches. He said his grandson had no underlying illnesses, but his health deteriorated rapidly in the hospital and he was placed on a ventilator.
“We never thought it would ever happen,” Niemeyer said. “You know [we thought], ‘It will be better; he comes home and we have a birthday party. “
Honestie first came to the forefront of national attention in December 2017. The then 11-year-old girl, her mother and another relative left her home to go to the store when police confronted them with a gun drawn and handcuffed them. Officers searched for a middle-aged white woman suspected of murder.
Police body camera footage of the incident showed Honestie crying and screaming, “No, please, please,” while officers handcuffed her. The officers involved were not disciplined because they did not violate the policies of any department.
At the time, Honestie told the local news site, MLive.com, “I would have a question for the Grand Rapids police: If it happened to a white child, if his mother yelled‘ 11 years old ’, they would have been handcuffed and put on a in the back of a police car?
In response to the incident, police created an “Honestie Policy” to determine how children should be contacted at the crime scene, although community members say the class needs to do more.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Grand Rapids NAACP chapter president Cle J Jackson encouraged community members to respect Honestie by following public health guidelines to protect themselves and their loved ones from the spread of Covid-19.
In the United States, the number of coronaviruses and hospitalizations this week was high as the diseases spread across the country. During the epidemic, black, indigenous, and Latin American people were disproportionately infected and died in Covid-19. Mortality rates in these populations are three times or more than those in white Americans, the APM Research Lab says.
And although children rarely die in Covid-19, the Center for Disease Prevention and Control says Spanish and black children are more likely to be hospitalized or admitted to ICU than white children.
Jackson said, “This is an opportunity to truly respect your life, with full respect for your life by doing what is needed, what is needed, and what restricts your movement, restricts your movement, you have to.”
