An Ohio State University graduate Sarah Grossman, a 22-year-old living in Ohio, died on May 30th. Two days earlier, she was protesting police brutality in regards to the George Floyd movement. However, the police started to fire tear gas and pepper spray at the crowd.

According to the Montgomery County Coroner's Office, on the evening of May 28, Grossman was at a protest in Columbus, Ohio. She was then exposed to tear gas and detrimental substances discharged by the police to control the crowd. 

According to the Dayton Daily News, the office can take approximately eight weeks for a full autopsy. In part, these early reports and posts about her death were shared online as part of a growing cultural shift to call out questionable police practices and policies. Even with no confirmation of a full autopsy report, social media spread fabrications in regards to her death being correlated to the tear gas. Social media inaccurately explained that she died on the same day from an asthma attack.

In reality, she died two days later after family members found her unresponsive at her home in Centerville. She then arrived at Sycamore Hospital. A preliminary autopsy report states she was suffering from cardiac arrest and was foaming from her mouth. Efforts to save her life were unsuccessful. Sarah Grossman’s cause of death is still pending. 

Her sister, Jesse Grossman, expressed her emotions with a post on Instagram. "As some of you know, on 5/30 we lost one of the kindest, beautiful souls, my sister Sarah. If you had ever met Sarah, you know that she impacted every person’s life that she touched. She never cared about what anyone thought of her, only caring about helping others. Her death came in the aftermath, but her legacy stands even stronger." 

Police forces have fired tear gas and pepper spray, with munition, at protesters across the country. 

by Emilie Chi