Autopsy Report: Police Camera Captures Assault
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WEATHERFORD (CBSDFW.COM) - CBS 11's I-Team has obtained a report that says a beating of a man in a crowd was partially captured on a police "dash-cam" video before he was arrested and later collapsed in the Parker County Jail. He died hours later at a hospital.
The 25-year-old man, Charles Alvarez, was arrested in early February for public intoxication after a Weatherford police officer spotted him "unresponsive" and lying in the street, with a group of people around him.
Before he could be booked into the county jail, Alvarez collapsed and later died from internal complications, including internal bleeding, "multi-organ failure" and heart failure, according to an autopsy report.
Weatherford Police Chief Mike Manning, in an earlier interview with the I-Team, said the arresting officer, upon seeing Alvarez unconscious on the street, initially thought he was simply intoxicated.
But the amended autopsy report, conducted and written by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office and obtained exclusively by the I-Team, says the officer's "dash cam video captures Mr. Alvarez being struck and falling to the ground."
Manning has told the I-team that, after an exhaustive investigation, authorities now believe Alvarez was beaten and are focusing on a group of people near him when he was spotted on the street.
But he questioned the accuracy of what the amended autopsy report says about the police video, based on what he and his investigators saw on the video.
CBS 11's requests for the dash-cam video, as well as the surveillance video of Alvarez in the booking area of the jail, is being challenged by the city of Weatherford. It has asked for a ruling from the state's Attorney General's Office.
Other details to emerge from the amended autopsy report include information about Alvarez, once he was revived and taken to jail.
"A medical evaluation was requested prior to accepting him into jail …while waiting, he asked to use the restroom, and his clothing was changed to jail clothes.
"Upon return, he was seated on a stool and (he) indicated (he) was having trouble breathing …He became unresponsive, slumping off the stool," the report said.
Alvarez's parents told the I-team they met with Parker County District Attorney Don Schnebly this week and were told the case would be presented before a grand jury, and than an indictment would be sought.
However, the Tarrant County ME's office continued to list Alvarez's "manner of death" as "undetermined," resulting in a hurdle in seeking a criminal charge in the case, both the family and Chief Manning have told the I-Team.
"It's devastating …to know we know what happened to our son; they know what happened to our son. But how does justice get served?" said Alvarez's disappointed father, Charlie Alvarez, moments after meeting with the DA.
"I think the thing that hurts the most," said Alvarez's mother, Susie Hitschew, "is considering him a drunk and not getting medical attention."
If you want to reach CBS 11′s Senior Investigative Producer Jack Douglas Jr., you can email him at jdouglas@cbs.com. If you want to reach CBS 11′s Jason Allen, you can email him atjmallen@cbs.com
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