The coroner’s inquest into the death of 17-year-old Victor Steen will be held on Thursday, February 25, beginning at 8:30 AM. The inquest will carry over to Friday, February 26 if necessary. The presiding judge will be John Simon.
From:Progressive Pensacola.
Mr. Steen was killed in the early morning hours of October 3 in an altercation with Pensacola Police officer Jerald Ard. Officer Ard claims that Mr. Steen was trespassing on a construction site, and that when he tried to detain Mr. Steen, he fled on bicycle. Officer Ard pursued Mr. Steen with his police cruiser, eventually striking Mr. Steen and dragging him under the vehicle.
The incident spurred the Pensacola Police Department to revise its Taser and vehicle pursuit policies.
The coroner’s inquest process is a public hearing at which the case material will be presented and the presiding judge will deliver a verdict stating whether or not there exists probable cause to believe that the death was the result of a criminal act, criminal negligence, or foul play. The State Attorney is not bound by the judge’s recommendation.
what actually happened, according to numerous eyewitness reports, is that officer Ard fired his tazer out of his cruiser window, which "by law", he is not supposed to do. Whether or not Victor was actually hit by the tazer, which would have caused him to fall, or if he jumped off of the bike, leans on different opinions.
ReplyDeleteWitnesses say Ard then ran his car into Steen, ran him over, dragging him 30 feet, then left him to die.
FTP.