A 20-year-old college athlete went to the hospital in the middle of a mental health crisis -- but instead of receiving care, he was shown the door and was later found dead in a lake, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
Last spring, Samwel Uko posted a Snapchat video begging his friends for help. He was in the lobby of a hospital in Regina in Canada, just a few hours north of the Montana line.
"I need help bro, I need help bro, for real," Uko said into his camera. At some point in the video, a hospital staffer stands behind him and demands to know, "Why are you taking a picture?"
At one point, a security video from Uko's second hospital visit showed hospital security forcibly removing him from the building as he screamed, "No, no, leave me. Leave me alone! I said… I have mental issues! No, no, please, help."
The CBC obtained the court documents from a lawsuit brought against the Saskatchewan Health Authority for failing to provide care to Uko. His family was awarded $81,000 for his life. The SHA apologized to the family, admitting the hospital "failed to provide [Uko] the timely assistance he needed."
"That's my best friend. Everything, everything," Joice Bakando, Uko's mom, told The Daily Beast in an interview. "I'm not feeling OK. My son needed help. To kick my son out of the hospital? I don't know what happened."
"They didn't care. Because it's Black people. I know my son. He doesn't talk bad to people. He's very, very nice… all the time, when I'm sleeping, I'm thinking of my son," she said, sobbing.
Watch the security video below and read the full report from the Daily Beast.
Security video shows guards removing Samwel Uko from Regina General Hospitalwww.youtube.com
