Durham, NC Police are claiming that a 17-year-old riding in a police cruiser last month committed suicide by shooting himself in the head while his hands were cuffed behind his back.
If the evidence supports this theory of Huerta’s death, there is still the troubling matter of the origin of the firearm. It was not a department-issued firearm, suggesting that Officer Duncan failed to find the gun in a search of Huerta before handcuffing him and placing the teen in the police car.
Expect this incident to end up being a very expensive one for Durham, in more ways than one.STORY
Durham’s police chief says that Jesus Huerta, the 17-year-old who died in police custody last month, shot himself in the head after he had been searched, handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car.It isn’t physiologically impossible for someone to commit suicide in the manner that police claim Huerta did, and perhaps just as importantly, there isn’t any reason that an officer transporting a teen on a minor charge would want to harm him or even could in the manner described. As fictional detective Sherlock Holmes stated, ”when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
“I know that it is hard for people not in law enforcement to understand how someone could be capable of shooting themselves while handcuffed behind the back,” Chief Jose Lopez told reporters Wednesday. “While incidents like this are not common, they unfortunately have happened in other jurisdictions in the past.”
Lopez said that Officer Samuel Duncan picked up Huerta early on Nov. 19 in response to a call about a runaway and learned that he had a warrant out for his arrest on a second-degree trespassing charge.
By 2 a.m., according to police, Huerta was dead – his hands still cuffed behind him, slumped over in the back seat of the car outside the Durham Police Department – and a handgun was found in the floorboard of the patrol car.
An autopsy confirmed the self-inflicted gunshot wound.
If the evidence supports this theory of Huerta’s death, there is still the troubling matter of the origin of the firearm. It was not a department-issued firearm, suggesting that Officer Duncan failed to find the gun in a search of Huerta before handcuffing him and placing the teen in the police car.
Expect this incident to end up being a very expensive one for Durham, in more ways than one.STORY
1 comment:
EVERYTHING a badgemonkey says is a lie until proven otherwise by AV recording or an independent non LEO/government paid witness.
What almost certainly happened is the monkey in blue was threatening the kid with his "throw down" piece playing tough guy when he got carried away with the intimidation act and pulled the trigger.
Now the city thug has a problem and has to cook up a bizarre and ridiculous " he shot hisself in da head after being searched and handcuffed.....his criminal accomplices on the force and in the DA's office will help cover for him and another criminal in blue walks....and will probably murder again.
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