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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHandcuffed Black Youth Shot Himself to Death, Says Coroner
A coroners report obtained exclusively by NBC News directly contradicts the police version of how a 22-year-old black man died in the back seat of a Louisiana police cruiser earlier this year -- but still says the man, whose hands were cuffed behind his back, shot himself.
In a press release issued March 3, the day he died, the Louisiana State Police said Victor White III apparently shot himself in an Iberia Parish police car. According to the police statement, White had his hands cuffed behind his back when he shot himself in the back.
But according to the full final report of the Iberia Parish coroner, which was released nearly six months later and obtained exclusively by NBC News, White was shot in the front, not the back. The bullet entered his right chest and exited under his left armpit. White was left-handed, according to family members. According to the report, the forensic pathologist found gunshot residue in the wound, but not the sort of stippling that a close-range shot can sometimes produce. He also found abrasions on Whites face.
And yet, despite the contradictions and even though Whites hands were never tested for gunpowder residue the Iberia Parish coroner still supported the central contention of the initial police statement issued back in March. Dr. Carl Ditch ruled that White shot himself, and declared his death a suicide.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/handcuffed-black-youth-shot-himself-death-says-coroner-n185016
You'd think the fucking cops and the fucking coroner could get their damn lies straight, FFS.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Amazing that these shithead cops and coroner think they can get away with it...actually, they probably have in the past.
LiberalArkie
(15,730 posts)Man was found in the woods with his head removed, hands removed and genitals removed. Search dogs found the head with a couple of bullet holes in it about a mile away. The hands and genitals were never found. Coroners result was suicide by multiple gun shots to the head.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)Values that small would require something far more accurate than an atomic force microscope.
Plus any head containing a brain stupider than Louie Gohmert could at any moment implode into a black hole.
TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)Stellar
(5,644 posts)I'm f**king tired of it!
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)the pathologist says that the entry wound was probably not a close-range shot and the coroner says it was "a contact entrance wound". The police say he shot himself in the back, though the wound was front to side. No amount of "body habitus" short of being double-jointed would have allowed this young man to shoot himself in the chest, at an angle from right to left . . .
You're right. The lies are so bad you can smell them through the computer. The Feds need to be involved in this. They can take it on as a civil rights violation - which it certainly was.
dickthegrouch
(3,184 posts)Perjury, Conspiracy.
Bring on the Feds.
conservaphobe
(1,284 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)in his jail cell and died in the Richmond County jail in Augusta, Georgia according to the county coroner. His parents had the good sense to conduct a private autopsy which revealed cigarette burns all over his body and a terrible head wound delivered to his head with a blunt object that killed him. When the truth came out, the black community rose up in protest against the police. Six were shot and killed and eleven others wounded.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)found in his jail cell in the Long Beach jail, hanged to death. He had been stopped for speeding by the Signal Hill Police. The Los Angeles County Coroner determined it was suicide. Despite these findings, at the coroner's inquest, five of nine jurors decided it was not suicide after hearing the evidence. A second autopsy was ordered with Dr. Michael Baden and his colleague Dr. Sidney Weinberg. Baden decided it was definitely not suicide:
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/27/us/2d-autopsy-on-hanged-athlete-is-inconclusive.html
"...Dr. Baden said the examination indicated evidence of esophageal hemorrhage that could have been caused by a certain type of choke hold employed by the local police. He said the lack of marks on the skin, the minimal injury to underlying tissue and the nature of the hemorrhage itself were unlike any he had seen in a suicidal hanging.
Dr. Weinberg agreed, saying: ''The most significant finding is a recognition of esophageal hemorrhage. Further investigation is necessary, and, with the information I have, it is not a probable suicide. ..."
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)ariela.danielle
(1 post)/Thank you for posting this article. Do you have any other articles on the Settles case?
me b zola
(19,053 posts)Black lives matter. Brown lives matter. The lives of people with mental illness matter. Homeless people matter. Working class people matter.
Until the police treat regular people the same way that they treat uber rich white people, we must demand better.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)to pat down a suspect, before putting them in a police vehicle. How do you pat someone down and not feel a hidden gun?
jmowreader
(50,567 posts)Those are pretty big; you'd think the cops would have noticed.
I mean, come on kids: if you're going to murder people and say the victim did it to himself, at least make it LOOK plausible!
valerief
(53,235 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,304 posts)How fucking sad and wrong.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)eom
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)"Well Gooooolly there Skeeter,...I didn't know their bruises show. Larn sumthin' new everday."
Delphinus
(11,842 posts)Where is the investigation? Will the Feds intervene? This is so wrong!
FreakinDJ
(17,644 posts)This is an Epidemic all across the country
Generic Brad
(14,276 posts)If they were opposed to it, it would be a reasonable expectation that they would step in. But they don't intervene. That implies to me that this is condoned.
uponit7771
(90,367 posts)HeiressofBickworth
(2,682 posts)My mother lived in Chicago as a young woman in the early 1940's. I recall her telling me that a neighbor of hers, a Chicago policeman, used to laugh and tell her how funny it was that so many people they arrested fell down the stairs at the station, breaking bones. No one race, age or gender was targeted -- just people who could not defend themselves against the police.
So many reports like this, both current and in the past, indicate to me that the police force attracts the type of person who wants the cover of job and badge to commit the acts of brutality that would land them in jail otherwise. It is due to the prevalence of cell phones, and other video recording devices, that the extent of their actions comes to light. And as long as the police are in charge of investigating accusations of police brutality, nothing will change. What's needed is a civilian review board who are completely independent of the police. Not a prosecutor who comes from a family of cops, one of whom was killed on the job, like the prosecutor in the Michael Brown case.
The citizens of Ferguson are understanding that they have the power to change things by the power of their vote. There is a voter registration effort going on. I wish them luck.
tblue
(16,350 posts)All you have to do to murder a black man is become a cop. In many places you only need a gun and a weak alibi.
Black folks have been so patient. So so patient.
Crunchy Frog
(26,679 posts)It's not like it's going to make any difference.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)americannightmare
(322 posts)telling his citizens to arm themselves because the police cant protect them is a perfect illustration of why our whole policing ideology in this country is illogical at best and pernicious at worst. Quite apart from the travesty of a majority white police force serving a majority black community, part of any reform should be re-thinking how policing is carried out in the first place. The Detroit example for instance; if everyone is armed, why do we need police? Most of the police work in any community these days is response; the police respond to a crime already in progress. Then their presence often escalates the situation, for various reasons, particularly in a minority community where trust is a huge issue. Even if they are patrolling nowadays they are a polarizing force. We need community policing that creates a calming influence; police who are trusted in the community do not need body armor and SWAT equipment, hell, they may not even need guns. Of course, all this is predicated on the notion that we as a society meaningfully address the social issues, particularly income inequality, which are at the core of our problems. As a kid growing up in the 70s, I never saw private security; now its everywhere. And we are far more unequal today than we were in those days.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)damnedifIknow
(3,183 posts)Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)The police involved need to be fired yesterday for not finding a freakin gun on this kid.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)This is a horrible injustice!
Thank you, joeybee12.
OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)Jesus Huerta, 17 years old.
http://www.wral.com/after-further-review-durham-da-says-no-charges-in-jesus-huerta-case/13688962/
uponit7771
(90,367 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)YAY COPS! THEY ARE THE BESTEST!
potone
(1,701 posts)I thought Houdini was dead.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)Anyone want to clue me in?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)were greatly exaggerated.
Everyone who believes this BS stand on your head.
drray23
(7,638 posts)This is a case of cover up so fragrant that the justice department needs to get involved and start another investigation.
I can not believe they would let it go.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)Through door window, a few feet away, while suspect yelled, "Don't shoot!" or "I know my rights."
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)It reminds me of this.
Initech
(100,108 posts)I'll believe that when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbert.
tclambert
(11,087 posts)And they shouldn't bother trying to handcuff magicians. A good magician can escape from handcuffs faster than a normal person can open them with a key.
Oh, maybe, too, they should make it a rule to SEARCH people for guns before taking them into custody. (Why do I have to think of everything?)
WillyT
(72,631 posts)Exultant Democracy
(6,594 posts)Ever see a picture of a crowd for a big lynching. You would think people were headed to the county fair.
indepat
(20,899 posts)daschess1987
(192 posts)The oligarchs have taken over and we're left with anarchy. They've got the surveillance state, the militarized police, and the drones, but history has shown that money and technology do not always win wars. May those who have done this to us never find peace in their bunkers.
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)I hope that the Obama Justice Department throws the book at these crooked douchebags.
cstanleytech
(26,334 posts)must be investigating it.
CanonRay
(14,121 posts)It's something every day.
MADem
(135,425 posts)samsingh
(17,601 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Same thing happened in Jonesboro, Ark. a while back.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025441326#post1
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)Aside from his supposedly being able to get his arms around like a pretzel to shoot himself in the chest, I can't figure where he could have possibly gotten the gun. He was patted down twice and they found pot and cocaine but no gun? How do you miss a gun in even one pat down in which bitty little bags of drugs were located?
Ok, yes, some people are very flexible with long limbs, so I guess it's a possible that this physically could have been done. Why the chest though? If you're going to go through all of that distorting your arms around wouldn't it have been easier and more likely to result in death to shoot yourself in the head? ANd what is meant by "chest"? Was this shot straight into the chest from the front or more like the side area of the chest, and did the bullet go through sideway (like from one side to the other) rather than straight from front to back?
And the abrasions... can't they tell if abrasions or bruising occurred before or after death, or does it matter how much time has passed before death? I suppose he could have gotten an abrasion by falling from an upright position when he allegedly made this shot, but who knows since just identifying an abrasion doesn't really explain anything concrete.
It's the gun that's the biggest issue. After TWO pat downs I find it just impossible it could have been missed especially when they found a bitty little baggie of coke. Though a .22 is small he would have had to have it hidden in his rectum to not be easily found in a pat down.
I just can't think of any possible way he could have gotten a gun of any caliber. Yes, the police don't use .22's, but that doesn't explain how he could possibly have had a gun while he was in the police car. So, maybe the police never patted him down at all or did a cursory job of it? No way. No way is any officer going to put anyone in their car that they don't absolutely know for a certainty that the person can't harm them, and that means a thorough pat down.
I guess I could see how the ME would still believe it was suicide from the physical findings of the body, but it's that gun that's the problem. Everything in the autopsy might be explained if the stars all align correctly, but it's that gun that there is just no way to explain. I've thought of every possible way that he could have obtained the gun while locked in the police car, but not a one of them works. The only one that comes anywhere close is that he was never patted down or it was only very cursory. Nope. Impossible. There's just no way on earth that even the most stupid officer in the world would ever ever ever put someone in the back of their cruiser without making certain they had no weapon.
There is just no possible explanation for that gun. Everything else could possibly be explained but not the gun. I want to know where that gun came from. I mean like the evidence locker or who it's registered to - some kind of trail.
And what about powder residue on the guy's hands? Or is this yet another case where the police just forgot about that all-important procedure? I've watched soooo many episodes of cases on Dateline or 48 Hours, etc. where the one thing that could have nailed a perp would have been gunshot residue on their hands, but woops, police just somehow forgot to do that.