Police brutality? Man shot himself in the chest while handcuffed in the back, Louisiana coroner says
- 9 years ago
An autopsy report released by the Iberia Parish Coroner's Office backs up the police account of the manner in which 22-year-old Victor White III died while in police custody. According to the coroner, the young man committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest while he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back in the back of a police car.
White and his friend Isaiah Lewis, 24, were shopping at a convenience store on 300 block of Lewis Street around 11 p.m. on March 2, when they saw two strangers fighting outside the shop. They fled the scene before police arrived.
White and Lewis were later stopped by a patrolling police officer while walking down the street. Officer Justin Ortis performed a “consented pat-down” on White and discovered marijuana in his pocket. Police asked Lewis if he and his friend could help identify the suspects in the fight, and Lewis said they could. But more officers arrived and performed additional searches on the two.
White was eventually handcuffed behind his back and placed in the back seat of Ortis’ cruiser, while Lewis was allowed to go.
A police press release stated that White “became uncooperative and refused to exit the deputy’s patrol vehicle” and that White later “produced a handgun and fired one round, striking himself in the back.”
However, the autopsy report released by the Iberia Parish Coroner’s Office, which concludes that White committed suicide, says a single point-blank gunshot went through White’s lateral right chest, pierced his left lung and heart before exiting from his left armpit and injuring his left arm. In other words, the coroner’s account that White shot himself in the chest contradicts the police account that he shot himself in the back, while still concluding that he committed suicide.
Iberia Parish Coroner Carl Ditch defended the report, saying White could have manipulated the handgun before he got in the police car and hid it between his right chest and right armpit.
White family atto
White and his friend Isaiah Lewis, 24, were shopping at a convenience store on 300 block of Lewis Street around 11 p.m. on March 2, when they saw two strangers fighting outside the shop. They fled the scene before police arrived.
White and Lewis were later stopped by a patrolling police officer while walking down the street. Officer Justin Ortis performed a “consented pat-down” on White and discovered marijuana in his pocket. Police asked Lewis if he and his friend could help identify the suspects in the fight, and Lewis said they could. But more officers arrived and performed additional searches on the two.
White was eventually handcuffed behind his back and placed in the back seat of Ortis’ cruiser, while Lewis was allowed to go.
A police press release stated that White “became uncooperative and refused to exit the deputy’s patrol vehicle” and that White later “produced a handgun and fired one round, striking himself in the back.”
However, the autopsy report released by the Iberia Parish Coroner’s Office, which concludes that White committed suicide, says a single point-blank gunshot went through White’s lateral right chest, pierced his left lung and heart before exiting from his left armpit and injuring his left arm. In other words, the coroner’s account that White shot himself in the chest contradicts the police account that he shot himself in the back, while still concluding that he committed suicide.
Iberia Parish Coroner Carl Ditch defended the report, saying White could have manipulated the handgun before he got in the police car and hid it between his right chest and right armpit.
White family atto