Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 02:35 pm
After a 17 year old suspect died in the back of their patrol car, police in Indiana unbelievably claim that the handcuffed teenager strangled himself with his own seat belt.
Here is the video:
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Three burglars, two juveniles and an adult, broke into the Madison County Shrine Club in Anderson, IN looking to loot the club’s booze stash. The burglars triggered the clubs alarm, and police arrived to find the three suspects and two trash barrels of alcohol. The suspects fled to the roof when the police arrived, and were eventually talked down. They were then handcuffed, and put into the backs of three different patrol cars.
The three individuals were left alone in the patrol cars, because police claim that they needed to go back in and investigate the building. When police returned to the cars, they claim that they found the body of a 17 year old male suspect, who had strangled himself with the car’s seat belt. Police claimed that the suspect had moved his handcuffs from the back of his body to the front and used the seat belt to strangle himself.
Police Chief Larry Crenshaw couldn’t explain why the suspects were left alone in the police cars, “How long a period of time can someone remain in the patrol car by himself without an officer there? Well there are several factors involved in that, and it’s part of the investigation that I cannot release right now.”
Crenshaw also wrote the young boy’s death off as a tragedy, “It’s very tragic for the family members of the young boy. You respond to the crime, you try to do the police functions as you can and in a situation like this, it’s tragic for the police department, for the officers involved and for the community.”
The police explanation doesn’t make sense on numerous levels, but the biggest question is how does a 17 year handcuffed boy strangle himself with a seat belt? The next question is how dumb do you think we are?
The police arrest a teenage burglary suspect. They leave him alone in the back of the patrol car. They come back and he’s dead. It is important to keep in mind exactly what this young man was arrested for. He didn’t harm anyone. He wasn’t facing life in prison or the death penalty. He and some friends wanted to steal some alcohol and probably get drunk.
It is possible that this young man was suicidal, after all, we don’t know what he was thinking, but the more likely explanations for his death are either police brutality or negligence. Try to replicate the position of the victim and you will see that it is nearly impossible to strangle yourself on the seat belt, unless the belt is intentionally placed around your throat.
There are also gaps in the police timeline. Why won’t the police tell the public if it is common departmental procedure to leave suspects alone in the back of the patrol car, or how long the suspect was left alone?
The police are hiding something. It is easy to paint all law enforcement officers with a broad brush and label every single one of them heroes or villains, but in this case the facts don’t add up.
A seventeen year old boy is dead under suspicious circumstances, and the police aren’t telling us the whole story.
Police Chief Crenshaw, please explain to us how a handcuffed 17 year old strangled himself in the backseat of one of your patrol cars.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
