Lawsuits: Florida authorities mix up bodies of teens killed in crash, harvest wrong organs

CANTONMENT, Fla. — Florida authorities mixed up the bodies of two teens killed in a crash last year -- and removed the organs of the wrong girl -- before releasing their bodies to their parents for burial, lawsuits from their families state.

Deleigha “Leigha” Gibson, 18, and Samara Glenise Cooks, 15, were passengers in a car that struck a utility pole just before 1:30 a.m. July 29, 2019, in Escambia County. According to WEAR in Pensacola, both girls were killed and the driver, Daichunique Lavender, 20, and a third passenger, 18-year-old Alexandria Banks, were critically injured.

A lawsuit filed Thursday by Samara Cooks’ mother, Ranada Cooks, of Atlanta, alleges that Florida Highway Patrol investigators incorrectly tagged the girls’ bodies at the scene. The lawsuit names as defendants the Highway Patrol, District Commander Capt. Richard Warden, the Escambia County Medical Examiner’s Office, former Medical Examiner Andrea Minyard and the two funeral homes that handled the girls’ bodies.

The Gibson family, of Cantonment, filed a separate, but nearly identical lawsuit Thursday.

“There is a lack of candor and dignity involved with the public entities that we are suing,” Artie Shimek, who is representing the Cooks family, said at a news conference Friday, according to the Pensacola News Journal. “They callously disregarded the rights, would not cooperate, would not tell these families anything during a time of unimaginable grief. A time that should be sacred.”

Florida Highway Patrol officials declined to comment on the pending litigation.

“The Florida Highway Patrol extends its deepest condolences to the families for their tragic loss,” a brief statement obtained by the newspaper said.

Ranada Cooks’ complaint states that, because the girls were misidentified at the crash scene, the misidentification continued down the line as additional people handled the girls’ bodies.

The mix-up took place despite numerous differences in the teens, who were both black.

“Samara Cooks and Deleigha Gibson were different ages and had different heights, weights and physical appearances,” Cooks’ lawsuit states.

Cooks alleges that she tried multiple times to see her daughter’s body but was denied that opportunity, both by the medical examiner’s office and by Faith Chapel Funeral Home in Cantonment, which she had hired for her daughter’s services.

She accuses funeral home employees of not catching the error despite having photos of her daughter on hand. Cooks’ complaint also states the workers repeatedly had to ask her for larger clothing, telling her swelling from the embalming process was making it difficult to dress her daughter’s body.

“In actuality, (they were) dressing the body of Deleigha Gibson,” the lawsuit states.

It was not until Cooks was allowed to see the body that the mistake was discovered.

“When I was allowed to visit with her, I was robbed of that first chance of viewing her because I did walk in and see Ms. Deleigha,” Cooks said at a press conference Friday with her attorney and Gibson's parents, NBC News reported. “It was not Samara.”

Watch Friday’s news conference below, courtesy of the Pensacola News Journal.

Once the funeral homes realized the error, both lawsuits state, they and the Highway Patrol attempted to rectify the situation -- without letting the two families know what happened. Faith Chapel then rushed the preparation of Samara Cooks’ body and prepared it for burial in a way that was not satisfactory to her family, Cooks’ suit says.

“After enduring the wrongs at the hands of the defendants, the plaintiff suffered nightmares, loss of appetite, anxiety, stress, loss of sleep and extreme emotional trauma,” the Cooks lawsuit states.

Read Ranada Cooks’ lawsuit below.

The claims made in Cooks’ lawsuit are repeated in the lawsuit filed by the Gibson family, who are represented by attorneys at the Cochran Firm in Dothan, Alabama. Demetrius and Tammy Gibson say they, too, were not allowed to see their daughter’s body at the medical examiner’s office or at their chosen funeral home, Tracy Morton Memorial Chapel in Pensacola.

“Defendant Tracy Morton had an 8 x 10 photo of Deleigha Gibson but failed to realize it had the incorrect body in its possession,” the Gibsons’ lawsuit states.

Staff at the District 1 Office of the Medical Examiner removed organs from Samara Cooks’ body for donation, despite the fact that she was not an organ donor.

Deleigha Gibson was the organ donor.

“Said organ extraction was performed without the knowledge, authorization or consent of Ranada Cooks or any other authorized person,” the Cooks lawsuit states. “Such unauthorized invasion of her daughter’s body has caused plaintiff Ranada Cooks extreme stress and anxiety.”

“I just really wish that they treated her with dignity. Let her go out like a lady," Ranada Cooks said of her daughter, according to NBC News. “I think they failed our girls.”

Family and friends of the girls described them and the two teens injured in last year’s crash as inseparable, according to WEAR.

“They were all four best friends. They loved each other,” Deleigha Gibson’s older brother, Zander Martin, told the news station. “You wouldn’t catch one of them without each other.”

The 18-year-old had just finished her freshman year at Pensacola State College, Martin said. She dreamed of being a nurse.

That drive to help others led her to the decision to be an organ donor.

Demetrius Gibson said the mix-up with the girls’ bodies resulted in his daughter’s last wish being denied, NBC News reported.

“The thing I really want to say is her last wish was not fulfilled because she was an organ donor,” Gibson said. “It was real brave of her to want to be an organ donor.

“For her not to get her last wish to maybe help a number of people, maybe even save someone’s life, help someone out, is unfortunate.”

Cox Media Group