PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – On the same day he was found not guilty of manslaughter in a separate case, WAVY’s investigative team confirmed retired Portsmouth police officer Vincent McClean was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of a pregnant woman who died in police custody.
A grand jury indicted McClean on the charge on Thursday – more than five years after Carmeita “Carly” VanGilder died in a police holding cell. She was 28 years old and pregnant with her second child.
McClean’s indictment is welcome news to Carly VanGilder’s parents, Joe and Michelle. The pair say they’ve been fighting for justice for their daughter for more than five years – even winning a $550,000 wrongful death settlement against Portsmouth in her death.
Carly VanGilder was arrested by Portsmouth police in the parking lot of the Walmart on Frederick Boulevard on Dec. 13, 2018. She had several cans of aerosol in her purse, a drug she’d been known to inhale. She also had medical papers showing she was pregnant and that she was seen at an emergency room the day before she was arrested, according to court records.
Court records show Carly VanGilder told the arresting officers, including McClean, that she was sick. She threw up in their patrol car and in the holding cell and repeatedly asked for water and help. The police officers didn’t call 911 or take her to a hospital, court records state.
An officer found her unresponsive in a holding cell around 10:41 p.m., but didn’t immediately call 911. Instead, they went to a station garage where their partner was cleaning her vomit from their police car. Officers eventually called EMS, and medics tried to revive Carly VanGilder, but it was too late. She was pronounced dead at 11:21 p.m. according to court records.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy that showed VanGilder died of a heart condition due to drug use. The VanGilders say their daughter had a known history of drug addiction and was scheduled to begin court-ordered rehabilitation the Monday after she died.
“Addiction had a hold on her she just could not shake,” Michelle VanGilder told 10 On Your Side’s investigative team in 2021.
The indictment against McClean was issued the same day he was found not guilty by a Portsmouth jury in a separate voluntary manslaughter case. That charge stemmed from an officer-involved shooting in May 2018 where a 29-year-old man named Willie Marable died.
McClean did not fire the shots that killed Marable. He was the supervisor on the scene. Prosecutors argued that McClean didn’t provide him with life-saving measures. Ultimately the jury did not find McClean responsible for Marable’s death.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.