Inquest to examine cuffed man’s drowning death
An upcoming court proceeding will examine the death of a handcuffed Iowa man who went overboard as a Missouri State Highway Patrol boat was transporting him from the Lake of the Ozarks on suspicion of boating while intoxicated.
The Kansas City Star reports that the coroner’s inquest in 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson’s death is scheduled to get underway Sept. 4. During the trial-like setting, six jurors will determine whether there was a crime or negligence involved.
Friends of Ellingson of Clive, Iowa, have complained in taped interviews conducted by investigators and obtained by The Star that the arresting trooper didn’t secure a life jacket properly in May. Witnesses said the cuffed man’s arms weren’t in the arm holes and that the jacket came off soon after Ellingson hit the water.
