NEW IBERIA (La) KLFY- On March 3, 2014, White was stopped at a local gas station in New Iberia. When a Sheriff’s deputy found small amounts of marijuana and cocaine on him, he was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of police car where authorities say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Since March of 2014, we have reported on Victor White III’s death. Now a federal judge is refusing to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Iberia Parish by the family of White.
U. S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna says there are “factual discrepancies” that raise questions about the “trustworthiness” of the Louisiana State Police investigation of White’s death.
“That’s what we knew all along. From the very beginning, from the very start, that’s what we’ve been shouting out. We all knew there was something wrong,” says Victor White II, Victor White III’s father.
In 2014 a parish coroner ruled that White shot himself in the chest following his drug-related arrest. A forensic pathologist concluded it was possible for the gunshot to be self-inflicted even though White’s hands were handcuffed behind his back, according to the local district attorneys office.
Hannah, however, said it’s unclear how White sustained fatal injuries visible in the autopsies photographs.
“As of today, that’s why we have no closure. You know we have no closure because we don’t really know what happened that night and the individuals that do know what happened, you know, you see they are still lying, they are covering it up,” says White.
Investigators say gun resin was found on both of White’s hand, and the gun used in his death is not ones used by Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Deputies. Other than that, the guns identification has not been released.
White says, “There was no way my son would have taken his life because there would’ve been no purpose. And we know that also the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s department, I mean that’s what they built on. They are built on just distrust, they are built on lies. I mean from the top all the way down the bottom.”
According to the news release, the Justice Department and state prosecutors ruled out criminal charges in White’s death, but Judge Hannah said the matter has not been “conclusively established”.
“I mean this is what we’ve been waiting for, but we know that there’s a lot, we still have a long road to go. The journey is not even over,” says White.
