📁 SWANK Dispatch: I Was Too Sick to Stand — But Had to Chase My Own Police Report
🗓️ 20 October 2021
Filed Under: police neglect, asthma crisis, medical discrimination, record access obstruction, procedural cruelty, Grand Turk misconduct, emergency documentation, health crisis retaliation, institutional indifference, safeguarding aftermath
“I couldn’t breathe.
I was discharged early from hospital.
And still I had to walk back and forth across town
to beg for a report about the night that nearly killed me.”
— A Mother With a Life-Threatening Illness and a Folder Full of Excuses
In this letter exchange between Polly Chromatic and Acting Assistant Superintendent Drexel Porter, we witness the physical and procedural toll placed on a mother recovering from a near-fatal asthma attack—who simply asked for a copy of the police report related to the asthma attack emergency at her home on 14 October 2021. Why was a police report made for an asthma attack?
🧾 I. What She Documented
She was still very ill, struggling to breathe
She had already visited the police station twice, only to be given the wrong email address
She attempted to email Inspector Porter using what was provided, but it bounced
She found the correct email herself
She arranged a third visit to the station, even though she could barely function physically
🫁 II. What This Letter Exposes
Bureaucratic carelessness in a time of medical crisis
No proactive assistance from officers at the Grand Turk station
A systemic culture of misdirection and blame-shifting, where the onus of correction falls on the ill and traumatised
A complete lack of trauma-informed care from officers involved in a safeguarding-related incident
🧯 III. SWANK Commentary
This isn’t just about a report.
It’s about a woman who survived a respiratory collapse, only to be expected to perform the administrative follow-up that others should have managed.
She didn’t just have to save her own life.
She had to chase the paperwork that explained why it was nearly taken.