Family wants answers about inmate’s death

The family of a Seneca man who died after being inside a holding cell at the Oconee Detention Center wants answers as to what happened and complained today they haven’t received as much communication as they would like.  Members of the family of Ernest Lee Smalley Jr. gathered on the sidewalk next to the Oconee Law Enforcement Center for a press conference held under steady rainfall.  The 33-year old Smalley died October 27 in a Greenville hospital, where he had been transferred for further medical care.  Smalley’s sister, Erica, claimed her brother’s body was covered in bruises and that the family has hired a private pathologist to do a second autopsy.  “Something doesn’t make sense,” said Rosalind Warren, mother of the late Ernest Lee Smalley Jr.  Family members also say they are seeking legal advice.  When found in a correctional cell, staff members started CPR on the inmate.  He was taken to the Oconee hospital prior to his transfer to Greenville Memorial.  An autopsy arranged by Coroner Karl Addis showed the death to complications from a gastro-intestinal hemorrhage and DTs—Delirium tremens.  In a recent statement, Sheriff Mike Crenshaw said, “The Sheriff’s Office contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate this death to prevent any possible conflict of interest due to the Sheriff’s Office being in control of the Detention Center.  At this time,” Crenshaw said, “there does not appear to be any foul play in Mr. Smalley Jr.’s death and Coroner Addis has ruled this death to be natural….”