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Crime alert, hourly update, breaking crime news now.
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A woman in Georgia says she was pushed out and fired from Georgia State University
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while undergoing chemotherapy and she is now fighting back in court.
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The case centers on Cindy Hawthorne of Atlanta.
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She was hired as a civil rights compliance investigator at Georgia State.
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Just three weeks into that job, she was diagnosed with cancer.
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One in three of us will have to deal with this because it's not okay.
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That's Hawthorne on WSB.
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She felt like skydiving without a parachute.
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Hawthorne says when she first told her supervisors, they supported her.
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She was allowed to work from home.
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Deadlines were extended.
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She said she even delayed surgery for a month to show commitment to the job.
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She returned to work remotely.
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She said she completed her assignments.
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She said she received a good performance review.
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But as chemotherapy and radiation took their toll, she asked for those accommodations
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She says that is when things changed.
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She was placed on a 90 day performance improvement plan.
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She says the university also brought in another employee to her department.
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And he started kind of letting me know about, you know, meetings that management was having
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without me, raises and offers that he was getting.
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That employee laid it out for her.
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He understood that I was being pushed out.
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Hawthorne says she was fired in October of 2024.
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That was less than a year after she was hired and diagnosed.
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Her attorney tells WSB the new hire backed up her claims during an EEOC investigation.
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He says she went out of her way to keep working through treatment.
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Hawthorne says the experience leaves her feeling discarded.
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The university system of Georgia is named in the lawsuit.
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A spokesperson says they cannot comment because the case is pending.
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More crime and justice news after this.
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This is the case of Alicia Lindsay.
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She died February 8th of 2024 in Anchorage.
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The medical examiner ruled the cause of death as hypothermia from cold exposure.
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Nearly two years later, her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the
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municipality of Anchorage along with dispatchers and police.
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The complaint lays out a timeline that began the day before her death.
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Lindsay went to Ted Stevens International Airport but never boarded her flight.
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Airport police later drove her home.
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That afternoon, she returned to the airport and eventually got a ride downtown.
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The driver became concerned and called 911 after seeing her standing in the road.
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Police made contact with her that day and let her go.
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The next morning, just after 7am, a man called 911 from his home.
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He reported a woman knocking on his door and sitting on the ground.
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He said she appeared disoriented, was not speaking and looked unwell.
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The dispatcher told him officers would be sent and could call back if anything changed.
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About 30 minutes later, the man called back.
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He said the woman was still there and he said she seemed to be crawling around the patio
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on drugs or having some sort of medical emergency.
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The couple gave her a blanket and hand-worners and told her help was coming.
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Temperatures that morning were as low as 17 with snow.
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The complaint says Lindsay was wearing only a light sweater, jeans and boots.
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The lawsuit claims the dispatcher did not treat the situation as a medical emergency.
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It says the focus was on whether the colors were safe and whether they could stay
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separated from her. Police arrived at exactly 7.47am.
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Officers found Lindsay on the ground.
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They reported she was breathing but drifting in and out of consciousness.
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Body camera audio captured her moaning and pain.
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Emergency crews arrived about 20 minutes later.
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They lifted her from the ground and moved her to an ambulance.
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Minutes after that, an officer reported she had stopped breathing.
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She was taken to Providence Hospital but died there.
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The lawsuit claims help came too late and argues that if emergency medical services had been
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dispatched to after the first 911 call, she could have received treatment sooner.
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Every Blakely was just two when he disappeared on this day in 2009 in Maldon,
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Washington. He was playing in the yard of his aunt's trailer.
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Around 12.30 that afternoon while family members were busy moving stuff out of the home.
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Within minutes, he was gone. More than 75 people joined the search effort.
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Deputies focused on nearby Pine Creek that runs close to the property.
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The creek was swollen and murky. Divers were unable to enter safely.
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But one of Avery's slippers was discovered on the bank of the creek.
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It matched what he had been wearing when he vanished.
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Authorities say at the time there was no sign of foul play.
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Investigators believed the boy may have wandered from the yard and fallen in the water.
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The search was called off the next day. He was presumed dead.
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But Avery's body was never found and the case remains open.
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He is still listed as a missing child because his body was never recovered.
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He's biracial white and Hispanic with brown hair and brown eyes.
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He was about 2 feet 827 pounds at the time he disappeared.
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Last scene wearing a blue sweatshirt with red sleeves,
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gray sweatpants and slippers.
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Anyone with information is asked to contact the Whitman County Sheriff's Office at 509-397-6266.
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For the latest crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on your favorite podcast app.
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With this crime alert, I'm Drew Nelson.
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