NEW ORLEANS — Family members of former Saints defensive lineman Glenn Foster Jr. and prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump will hold a virtual press conference noon Saturday to discuss Foster's death in the custody of law enforcement in Pickens County, Alabama.
The press conference will be streamed on WWLTV.com and WWLTV's social media pages.
Foster died Monday following a high-speed police chase culminating in a crash, a jail fight with another detainee that drew two guards into the fray and, finally, a desperate but futile effort to get medical help, according to interviews with authorities and his relatives.
His death remained under investigation Tuesday. Foster’s autopsy was pending, and no cause of death was immediately available, said the Pickens County Medical Examiner & Coroner’s Office.
Foster, who was balancing a decade-old bipolar diagnosis while forging careers in the NFL and as a business owner in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, was 31. His death came two days after police in Reform, Alabama, arrested him and turned him over to the custody of a local sheriff’s office.
Court documents obtained by WWL-TV on Wednesday revealed new details regarding the events leading up to Foster's death.
Authorities wrote that Foster allegedly attacked a sleeping inmate, David Wells, inside the Pickens County Jail while trying to steal Wells' socks.
"Wells was asleep and Foster stood over him attempting to steal his socks before repeatedly striking Wells to the chest, rib cage and abdomen area," the court document said.
It adds that Wells had to be taken to a hospital for treatment for bone bruises and chest swelling due to the attack.
A second document says that "shortly after assaulting another inmate" Foster then allegedly got into a fight with a deputy and correction officer trying to handcuff him, causing the deputy to get a cut to his nose and left hand.
The allegations led the sheriff’s office to re-book Foster on three counts of assault and one count of third-degree robbery, jail records show.
The documents do not mention what happened to Foster or if he was injured during or after the alleged altercations. Foster's body was turned over to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences on Wednesday.
