The”Houdini-Handcuff” Case: How Did Victor White Die?

By Renarda A. Williams

All around America in offices, barbershops, and homes, the question needed an answer: how could 25 year-old Freddie Gray severe his own spine in the back of a police van? Scores of medical experts said it could not be done. Maryland State Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby responded with her answer by filing charges against the six officers involved in the arrest of Gray.

In New Iberia, Louisiana, there is a similar case. It involves the death of  22 year-old Victor White who died March 2, 2014 from a gunshot wound he suffered while sitting handcuffed in the back of a deputy sheriff”s patrol car. According to the sheriff’s office, the wound was self-inflicted.The Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office report indicates that at 11:22 p.m. on March 2, deputies responded to a report of a fight at a convenience store in the 300 block of Lewis Street of New Iberia.Trooper Stephen Hammons of the Louisiana State Police — to whom the sheriff’s office later handed over the investigation — told the Black press and the Baton Rouge newspaper that White was reportedly fighting with others when deputies responded to the call.Deputies said they located White and discovered he was in possession of illegal narcotics. They cuffed his hands behind his back, and then placed him in a squad car for transport to the sheriff’s office for processing.“Once at the sheriff’s office, White became uncooperative and refused to exit the deputy’s patrol vehicle,” Hammons said. As the deputy requested assistance, White produced a handgun and fired one round, striking himself in the back, according to the report. The Iberia Parish Coroner’s report, however, states that White was shot in the chest.White’s father, Victor White Sr., told TheVillageCelebration (www.thevillagecelebration.com)  that he does not believe his son had a fight at a convenience store, was arrested for possession of illegal drugs, or committed suicide.

“I watched the convenience store’s video, and it did not show my son involved in a fight,” White Sr. said. “He was not arrested for possession of illegal drugs … my son’s friend said the police let them go when they were stopped at the store.” White, Sr. said he believes sheriff’s deputies beat his son and covered up their crime. White also questioned why it took the coroner’s office five months to release autopsy results.

The coroner for Iberia Parish, Carl M. Ditch, did not return calls for a response. Instead, a representative of Ditch’s office emailed a press release.

“The family of Victor White was called to meet me personally on August 14, 2014, and at that time [they] were given a copy of the complete autopsy report and my findings concerning the tragic death of their son,” Ditch said in the release. “That same day, a copy of the report was given to the investigating authorities, i.e., the state police and the district attorney’s office. No public press release was made at that time, since the manner of death was determined to be suicide and the coroner’s office has a policy of not releasing details of suicide deaths to the public. Due to events since that time, however, I feel this press release is necessary.

“Based on the forensic evidence and information gained from the ongoing state police investigation, I have determined the cause of death is a single contact gunshot wound to the right lateral chest, and the manner of death is suicide. Although the decedent was handcuffed at the time his hands to his back, due to his body habitus, the pathologist and investigators agree that he would have been able to manipulate the weapon to the point where the contact entrance wound was found.

The statement continued, “The manner of death was determined to be suicide based on information gained from the ongoing state police investigation, that at this point is not complete and has not been released to the public asof yet. Hopefully, this will be completed soon and turned over to the Iberia Parish District Attorney.”

The family is rejecting the coroner’s report.

Carol Powell-Lexing is the White family’s attorney. “The Louisiana Forensics Center contracts out autopsies of forensics for [local cities] and Iberia Parish,” she said. “New Iberia is one of those cities. Based on my experience, whenever there is a police officer involved in a case, the Louisiana Forensics Center is never going to say that the police officer did anything wrong. That’s why I reject a portion of the coroner’s report.”

Lexing said the coroner’s report left out key elements, such as whether White’s fingerprints were dusted for gun residue. She said she believes this information was intentionally omitted.

“I have very little confidence in anything that comes out of the Louisiana Forensics Center where it relates to incidents that involves police officers,” Lexing said, adding that she doesn’t expect findings in such incidents to favor African Americans.

“They could not get around this particular issue because they already put out their report about the shooting … . So they had to come out with something else, but they left out important details that could resolve main issues in this case that are omitted. Why? Because it must be some type of cover up.”

Rob Vines, the Iberia Parish District Attorney, said that because he had no file on the White case, he could not comment about the investigation.

Since White’s death, there have been a number of high-profile cases involving police officers killing African American men. Powell-Lexing, a civil rights lawyer, who argued before the United States Supreme Court and won a case that limited police immunity, sees parallels between White’s death and the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Dontre Hamilton, Tamire Rice, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray.

She stated, “It mirrors the devaluing of African American lives and proves that some have a reckless disregard for their lives and that there are two standards for how they police, in their minds, different groups of people. That is why it is easy for some police officers…not all of them…to gun down and beat and not provide medical attention to people who are already subdued and in custody.”

Meanwhile, Victor White, Sr. says he will continue to press for answers about his son’s death.

“These conflicting reports tried to create a diversion,” he said. [The sheriff’s office and coroner] thought I would get tired, frustrated, and just leave it alone. I will never give up … until I find out … what happened to my son.”