The circumstances surrounding the death last March while in the backseat of a sheriff's cruiser of Victor White III, long a source of dispute by White's family, have earned an investigation by federal officials.
U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley confirms in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon that a probe into Victor White III's death last March is under way, saying her office along with the FBI and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division are tag-teaming the effort. White's death from a gunshot wound to the chest was ruled a suicide by the coroner, yet White was reportedly handcuffed with his hands behind his back when he died.
From the press release:
"This tragic incident deserves a full review of the evidence; our objective is to discover the truth. The FBI has been working parallel with the current investigation. Our review will take time to complete. FBI agents, along with attorneys from my office and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, will carefully review the results of the current investigation by the Louisiana State Police, will determine what additional investigation, if any, is necessary to determine who fired the fatal shot, and whether the evidence demonstrates a willful civil rights violation. The federal investigation will supplement, rather than supplant, the investigation by state authorities. Once the investigation is complete, we will carefully review the results to decide if any prosecutable violations of federal criminal civil rights statutes occurred."
Read more about the case here.