The father of a 22-year-old Louisiana man who authorities claim fatally shot himself while handcuffed in a patrol car is angry that the district attorney’s office has declined to pursue criminal charges.
“It’s disappointing, disheartening, baffling and disgusting all at the same time,” Victor White Sr. told The Huffington Post.
Prosecutors had been investigating whether charges were appropriate in Victor White III’s shooting death, but found no “evidence to suggest a violation of a criminal statute,” First Assistant District Attorney Robert Vines told HuffPost on Monday.
The death has been ruled a suicide.
White died in the early morning hours of March 3, 2014, while in custody of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office.
According to the Louisiana State Police, deputies were investigating a fight when they stopped White as he was walking down the street.
“[Deputies] discovered he was in possession of illegal narcotics,” state police said in a March 2014 press release. “White was taken into custody, handcuffed behind his back and transported to the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office for processing.”
Upon arrival at the sheriff’s office, White became uncooperative and refused to exit the patrol vehicle, according to the release. “As the deputy requested assistance from other deputies, White produced a handgun and fired one round, striking himself in the back,” it continues.
After the shooting, White was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. A .25-caliber handgun and shell casing were found in the back of the patrol car.
The circumstances of White’s death have been in dispute for nearly two years.
Despite the state’s findings, the elder White said he does not believe his son, a father of one from Alexandria, took his own life.
“He had so much going for him,” he said. “He was working hard — he had just got done working a double [shift] when they arrested him — and had plans and goals set that were beginning to materialize.”
Those plans, according to the father, included White moving into an apartment with his longtime girlfriend and their 1-year-old daughter.
“It just doesn’t make any sense,” the elder White said.
White also points to a copy of the autopsy report, which contradicts the state police’s March 3 press release and states his son was shot in the chest — not in the back — in the area of his right nipple. The bullet exited out his left side, according to the report.
“He couldn’t shoot himself in the right part of his chest with his hands behind his back,” White said. “He is left-handed, and they are saying he did this and shot himself on the right side.”
White Family
Victor White
White Family
image
Victor White
White Family
image
Carol Powell Lexing
Carol Powell Lexing at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena, La., on Sept. 27, 2007.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
image
Dr. Michael Baden
Former New York City chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden on Aug. 18, 2014, speaking about an unrelated case in St. Louis County, Mo.
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
image
Victor White
White Family
image
Victor White
White Family
image
In making the decision not to file charges in the case, Vines said his office, along with the FBI and state police, looked at “the results of analysis by various crime labs, the coroner, forensic pathologist [and] witness statements.”
Evidence suggestive of a suicide, the prosecutor’s office said, include findings that the younger White had gunshot residue on his hands. Witnesses also reported seeing White with a small caliber handgun in the hours leading up to the shooting, prosecutors said. Authorities present at the time of the shooting reported hearing White say, “I’m gone,” before officers heard the gunshot.
The elder White, with the assistance of attorney Carol Powell Lexing, is pursuing the case in civil court. He said a review of the findings by the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office suggests authorities invested little effort in determining what happened to his son.
“They didn’t look at anything different than what the coroner presented,” he said. “They didn’t see my son’s body, didn’t look at his clothes and didn’t do anything different. I don’t see how it’s an independent investigation when you’re just looking at information you were provided.”
Victor White Sr. speaks today in Lafayette. “We are not stoop get here. Because there is a lot more to be exposed.” pic.twitter.com/coZM4aaCb0
— Lanie Lee Cook (@lanieleecook) February 8, 2016
“Everybody was basically looking at paper,” Lexing added. “For instance, they did not actually examine the gun, they looked at it through a picture. I don’t know how you could not [look at the gun] and complete your investigation, but they did.”
Lexing believes police are not only responsible for White’s death, but used a “throw-down gun” and launched a cover-up immediately afterwards. She hopes to prove those allegations upon a thorough review of the case files, which she said the district attorney’s office turned over to her on Friday.
“Right now we’re still looking through it,” she said. “Even though they declined prosecution we’re still pursuing the civil case and we’re confident we can put sufficient facts forward to show there was an injustice perpetrated on this family.”
While it could take years for the civil case to make its way through the court system, the elder White said his end goal is to “get justice — get to the truth.”
Black Women Killed In Police Encounters
Tanisha Anderson: Died Nov. 13, 2014, age 37, Cleveland
Over a year after Tanisha Anderson lost her life in an incident with Cleveland police officers, her family is still waiting for answers.
The 37-year-old died after her mother called 911 while Anderson was having a “mental health episode,” as described in the family’s subsequent lawsuit against city police. Officials say that when officers tried to take Anderson to a treatment facility, she struggled and then went limp. Her family says police slammed her to the ground and put a knee in her back. A medical examiner ruled Anderson’s death a homicide, the result of being “physically restrained in a prone position by Cleveland police.” Her heart condition and bipolar disorder were also considered factors.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department began investigating the incident in July at the request of the prosecutor’s office.
In a wrongful death lawsuit, Anderson’s family alleges that CPD Officers Scott Aldridge and Bryan Myers did not provide medical attention to Anderson as she lay on the ground unconscious.
Aldridge had previously been suspended for violating the department’s use-of-force policies, according to Northeast Ohio Media Group, and was disciplined in 2012 for his role in the deaths of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell (see slide #6 in this collection). Aldridge and Myers deny that they caused Anderson’s death and have asked for the case to be dismissed.
The month after Anderson was killed, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Cleveland police have a pattern of using excessive force, including against people who are mentally ill, and that they don’t use appropriate techniques to account for mental illness.
Mauvion Green, Anderson’s daughter, told Northeast Ohio Media Group last year that she wants to work for conscientious treatment of people with mental illnesses. “I’m fighting for my mother, but I’m fighting for everyone else, too,” Green said.
Family Photo
Tanisha Anderson: Died Nov. 13, 2014, age 37, Cleveland
Over a year after Tanisha Anderson lost her life in an incident with Cleveland police officers, her family is still waiting for answers.
The 37-year-old died after her mother called 911 while Anderson was having a “mental health episode,” as described in the family’s subsequent lawsuit against city police. Officials say that when officers tried to take Anderson to a treatment facility, she struggled and then went limp. Her family says police slammed her to the ground and put a knee in her back. A medical examiner ruled Anderson’s death a homicide, the result of being “physically restrained in a prone position by Cleveland police.” Her heart condition and bipolar disorder were also considered factors.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department began investigating the incident in July at the request of the prosecutor’s office.
In a wrongful death lawsuit, Anderson’s family alleges that CPD Officers Scott Aldridge and Bryan Myers did not provide medical attention to Anderson as she lay on the ground unconscious.
Aldridge had previously been suspended for violating the department’s use-of-force policies, according to Northeast Ohio Media Group, and was disciplined in 2012 for his role in the deaths of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell (see slide #6 in this collection). Aldridge and Myers deny that they caused Anderson’s death and have asked for the case to be dismissed.
The month after Anderson was killed, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Cleveland police have a pattern of using excessive force, including against people who are mentally ill, and that they don’t use appropriate techniques to account for mental illness.
Mauvion Green, Anderson’s daughter, told Northeast Ohio Media Group last year that she wants to work for conscientious treatment of people with mental illnesses. “I’m fighting for my mother, but I’m fighting for everyone else, too,” Green said.
Family Photo
image
Yvette Smith: Died Feb. 16, 2014, age 47, Bastrop, Texas
Yvette Smith was fatally shot when Bastrop County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel Willis responded to a 911 call about a fight between several men at a residence, according to KXAN. At the scene, authorities say, Willis ordered Smith to come out of the house, then shot her twice when she did so. An initial statement claiming that Smith was armed was later retracted by police officials.
Willis was fired, and his record came under scrutiny. An evaluation from a past employer said that he needed “more development in handling explosive situations” and “utilization of common sense.”
Following a grand jury indictment for murder, Willis was tried in September. A mistrial was declared when the jury deadlocked 8-4 in favor of finding Willis guilty. The prosecutor on the case told KXAN the prosecution would retry the case and wouldn’t consider a lesser charge.
Smith’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2014.
“A part of me is gone, you know, and I wish I could have that back, but I can’t,” Yvonne Williams, Smith’s twin sister, told KVUE last year. “I just want justice for her.”
Family Photo
image
Miriam Carey: Died Oct. 3, 2013, age 34, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Secret Service and Capitol Police officers fatally shot Miriam Carey in a car chase after she drove her car into a security checkpoint near the White House despite orders to stop. Officers fired multiple shots at Carey, a dental hygienist from Connecticut, hitting her five times. Her 1-year-old daughter, who was also in the car, survived.
An autopsy found that Carey was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, her family’s attorney said, and no weapons were found in her car. She had previously been diagnosed with postpartum depression and psychosis.
Federal prosecutors said in 2014 that they would not file charges against the officers. Carey’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
“The emphasis shouldn’t be on why [Miriam was in Washington, D.C.],” sister Valarie Carey told The Washington Post last year. “The emphasis should be [on] what those officers did. Were their actions proper?”
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
image
Shelly Frey: Died Dec. 6, 2012, age 27, Houston
Facebook
image
Darnisha Harris: Died Dec. 2, 2012, age 16, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana
Darnisha Harris was 16 when Breaux Bridge police Officer Travis Guillot fired two shots into the car she was driving. Guillot and two other officers were responding to a 911 call about an outdoor fight. According to The Advocate, a Louisiana newspaper, the officers saw Harris driving erratically, hitting parked cars and a bystander, before Guillot opened fire.
Harris was on probation for battery on a police officer and violating a court-ordered curfew when she died, according to The Advocate.
Guillot was previously accused of misconduct while working at three different law enforcement agencies, according to KATC of Lafayette, Louisiana. The incidents included shooting a dog while on patrol and allegedly fondling female inmates, as well as Guillot’s alleged involvement in the case of an inmate who died of cocaine intoxication while in custody. A lawsuit regarding this last allegation was settled out of court.
In the summer of 2013, some eight months after Harris’ death, a grand jury declined to indict Guillot.
YouTube
embed
Malissa Williams: Died Nov. 29, 2012, age 30, Cleveland
Malissa Williams was a passenger in a car driven by a man named Timothy Russell when a police officer thought he heard shots fired from the vehicle and began following them, according to the Associated Press. A 25-minute chase through Cleveland ended with 13 officers firing 137 rounds at the car, which police eventually cornered in a school parking lot. Twenty-three bullets struck Russell, and 24 hit Williams. They were both killed.
Williams and Russell, who both had criminal records, were unarmed.
Six officers were indicted in the car chase. Officer Michael Brelo was charged with manslaughter, and five supervisors were charged with dereliction of duty. Brelo — who allegedly fired 49 shots at the vehicle, 15 of them from atop the hood of the car itself — was tried earlier this year and found not guilty on all charges, including two counts of voluntary manslaughter, attempted voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. “They did not deserve to die for fleeing and eluding,” Michelle Russell, Timothy’s sister, told Northeast Ohio Media Group. Five police supervisors are awaiting trial on charges of dereliction of duty. The city settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the victims’ families for $3 million in 2014.
“This shooting is one of the worst examples of police misconduct in American history,” attorneys for Williams’ and Russell’s families said at the time. “This settlement sends the clearest signal yet that real reform must be achieved inside the Cleveland Police Department.”
Tony Dejak/Associated Press
image
Shantel Davis: Died June 14, 2012, age 23, New York City
Shantel Davis was fatally shot while driving a stolen car. Plainclothes NYPD officers approached her after she ran multiple red lights. When she tried to escape, Phil Atkins, a narcotics officer, allegedly tried to shift her car into park as it was moving, The New York Times reports. His gun fired once, striking Davis in the chest.
Davis had been arrested eight times previously and was due in court the day after her death for kidnapping and attempted murder charges, according to the Times. She was unarmed when she was shot.
Atkins had been sued seven times over the previous decade for various allegations, including undue use of force, according to DNAinfo.
Facebook
image
Rekia Boyd: Died March 22, 2012, age 22, Chicago
Rekia Boyd was unarmed when she was shot in the back of the head by Dante Servin, a Chicago police detective who was off-duty at the time.
Servin was driving near his home late at night when he saw a group of four people walking. He had a brief conversation with them from his car, then turned the wrong way down a one-way street. According to the Chicago Tribune, he said he then looked over his shoulder and thought he saw a man from the group pull a gun from his pants and point it at him.
Servin fired five rounds over his left shoulder through his car window, striking the man in the hand and Boyd in the back of the head. The man whom Servin believed to have a gun was actually holding a cell phone.
Boyd was taken to a hospital and died the next day.
In 2013, Servin was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless discharge of a firearm and reckless conduct. His trial began in April 2015, but was quickly dismissed by the judge. In November, the police department began the process of firing Servin, which requires a hearing before the Chicago Police Board. As of December, the board has not yet reached a decision.
The city awarded Boyd’s family $4.5 million as part of a wrongful death settlement.
“My mother holds a lot inside but she’s hurting, especially when she hears about police violence,” Martinez Sutton, Boyd’s brother, told The Chicago Citizen newspaper.
Nuccio DiNuzzo/Chicago Tribune/TNS via Getty Images
image
Shereese Francis: Died March 15, 2012, age 29, New York City
Shereese Francis was killed after family members called authorities seeking help because Francis, who had schizophrenia, had not been taking her medication and appeared to need medical attention. She’d refused to go to a hospital voluntarily.
When NYPD officers arrived, the family’s wrongful death lawsuit alleges, Francis did not realize they were police, due to her mental illness. When Francis, who was unarmed, tried to leave the room against police orders, they allegedly pursued her, grabbed her and “tackled” her on a bed. The suit claims four officers put their weight onto Francis’ back while trying to cuff her, and her sister believes she saw them hitting and using a Taser on Francis until she stopped moving.
Francis was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the incident. Her cause of death was “compression of trunk during agitated violent behavior (schizophrenia) while prone on bed and attempted restraint by police officers,” according to The Village Voice.
The lawsuit said the officers overwhelmingly violated NYPD policies on mental illness, in part because the department had failed to provide training on the subject.
The city settled with Francis’ family for $1.1 million.
Facebook
image
Aiyana Stanley-Jones: Died May 16, 2010, age 7, Detroit
Aiyana Stanley-Jones was sleeping on her couch with her grandmother when police conducted a “no knock” raid of their home. Officer Joseph Weekley was first through the door, and after a flash-bang grenade went off, he fired his gun, killing Aiyana. Weekley later testified that the grandmother struck his weapon and caused him to fire, but she denies having been near the gun.
Police said the raid was in search of a murder suspect who lived in the second-floor unit of the home.
Weekley was charged with involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm causing death, but his case was dismissed after two mistrials. He returned to duty as a Detroit police officer in April.
Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
image
Tarika Wilson: Died Jan. 4, 2008, age 26, Lima, Ohio
Tarika Wilson was killed when a Lima police SWAT team raided her rental home to arrest her boyfriend on drug charges, according to The New York Times. She had her youngest son, Sincere, in her arms when she was shot by Sgt. Joseph Chavalia. Sincere, who was 14 months old, was shot in the shoulder and hand but survived.
Chavalia was acquitted of the misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He testified that he felt his life was in danger when he shot Wilson, thinking he’d seen a shadow and heard gunshots nearby. The shots had actually come from officers downstairs, according to the Associated Press.
The city settled a wrongful death suit with Wilson’s family for $2.5 million in 2011.
Family Photo
image
Alberta Spruill: Died May 16, 2003, age 57, New York City
Alberta Spruill also died after police conducted a “no knock” raid at her home in error. Officers broke through her door and threw a concussion grenade while Spruill, a city employee, was getting ready for work. She was briefly handcuffed but released when officers realized they were in the wrong place and that the information they’d been given — that guns and drugs were being stored in the apartment — was incorrect. Spruill died of a heart attack at a nearby hospital less than two hours later.
The city of New York agreed to pay a $1.6 million settlement to Spruill’s family.
“This case for them is not about money. It’s about changing procedure,” Johnnie Cochran, the lawyer for Spruill’s sisters, said in 2003. “It’s about the fact that their sister should not have died in vain.”
Andrew Savulich/NY Daily News via Getty Images
image
Kendra James: Died May 5, 2003, age 21, Portland, Oregon
Portland police Officer Scott McCollister fatally shot Kendra James during a traffic stop. When McCollister pulled over the car in which James was a passenger, he took the driver, Terry Jackson, into custody after seeing he had an outstanding warrant. James moved behind the wheel of the car and tried to drive away, and McCollister tried to stop her by climbing partway into the car and pulling her hair and using pepper spray and a Taser. James put the car into drive and McCollister shot her. He later claimed he’d gotten stuck in the car’s doorway and that he’d feared for his life.
A grand jury declined to prosecute. McCollister was initially suspended, but the disciplinary action was overturned by an arbitrator.
“It’s been 10 years later, justice has still not [been] served,” James’ mother, Shirley Isadore, said at a 2013 rally marking the anniversary of her daughter’s death.