The family of a North Carolina teen has some questions after their son was shot dead while sitting handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser on Tuesday.
Seventeen-year-old Jesus Huerta was being transported to police headquarters after he was arrested for trespassing. Officer Samuel A.M. Duncan said he heard a shot from the backseat and jumped out of the car, which then rolled into a van with Huerta still inside.
In the recording of the 911 call, a police officer radioed emergency dispatchers just before 3 am EST Tuesday morning to report “shots fired” in the parking lot of the station. The dispatcher asked the calling officer if he was hurt, according to the recording. “I don’t believe so,” the officer said in response.
The officer is heard asking for medical assistance for a “gunshot wound. Approximately 18-year-old male, not breathing.”
Ahead of the released recording, later on the morning of Huerta’s death, Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez said his department didn’t know how the young man died, but said “based on the preliminary investigation, it does not appear that any Durham police officer fired a weapon during this incident.”
When Huerta’s family requested to see the body to identify it, they were told they were prohibited.
Huerta’s family was notified of Jesus’ death early Tuesday morning, but they were told they will not yet be able to view his body, taken to the state medical examiner’s office. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told WRAL there is no viewing room.
“(My mother) wants to see my brother, even through a glass window,” said Evelin Huerta, Jesus’ sister. “We don’t have any answers. We want to make sure it’s him because we still have that thought, the possibility that it’s not him, that it was a mistake.”
Huerta’s older siblings, Evelin and Raziel Huerta, said Wednesday Durham police had not directly told the family how Jesus died, though they question any insinuation that he killed himself.
Police have yet to give any additional information. Duncan, who joined the department in 2012, has been placed on administrative leave with pay during the investigation. No charges have been made.
SOURCE: StopBeingFamous | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty
