The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the May death of a jail detainee as a potential homicide, following a determination by the county medical examiner’s office.
According to a preliminary autopsy report, there is video showing the detainee, 39-year-old Tasha Grant, having her “chest and abdomen against the side of the hospital bed with pressure placed on posterior neck and back.”
Grant died from cardiac arrest “13 minutes following cessation of restraint,” according to the report.
The cause of death is described as: “Physical restraint in the setting of congestive heart failure.” Obesity, cardiovascular disease and Type 1 diabetes are listed as contributing factors.
“The determination of homicide by this office is a medicolegal term and does not imply wrongdoing,” the office’s spokesperson, Christopher Harris, said in a statement Thursday. “That kind of determination will be addressed in the legal system.”
The report is dated Sept. 23, 2025, more than four months after Grant’s death.
On May 6, the county released the following statement on Grant’s death:
“On May 2, 2025, a 39-year-old female resident of the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center was transported to MetroHealth medical center due to preexisting medical conditions that resulted in a medical emergency. She remained there for treatment and on May 5 at approximately 6:30 p.m. she was pronounced deceased at the hospital. This matter remains under investigation. No additional information is available for release at this time.”
Following the public release of the medical examiner’s report, the county sent out a similar statement Thursday that read:
“On May 2, 2025, a 39-year-old female resident of the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center was transported to MetroHealth medical center due to preexisting medical conditions that resulted in a medical emergency. She remained there for treatment and on May 5 at approximately 6:30 p.m. she was pronounced deceased at the hospital.
This matter is now being investigated as a homicide by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department.”
Grant was awaiting trial on two cases when she was booked into the jail April 17 - an assault from the Southwest General Hospital Police Department on Sept. 3, 2024, and a vandalism case from the Garfield Heights Police Department on Sept. 12, 2024.
She had been awaiting a mental health evaluation when she was brought to MetroHealth where she died.
