DELTONA, Fla. – It's been almost three years since the death of Marlon Brown, who was run over and killed after being chased by DeLand police.
Now, Brown's family and attorney Benjamin Crump said they have new evidence that challenges the original findings in his death.
Crump gave a presentation to Deland City Council members Monday night. He asked for their support to push Chief William Ridgeway to order a coroner's inquest.
The official report concluded Brown was never struck by a police car, but Crump presented affidavits signed by two different medical examiners about the cause of his death.
In one affidavit, Dr. Shiping Bao, who performed the first autopsy on Brown says:
"I was required by Chief Medical Examiner Marie A. Herrmann to change my report to indicate the cause of death to be mechanical asphyxia and that there was no evidence that Mr. Brown was struck by a police cruiser. Chief medical examiner's Herrmann's changes are contrary to the evidence presented to me at the time of my postmortem examination."
Bao was later fired by the Medical Examiner's Office.
Crump said they then had another medical examiner, William Anderson, review all the evidence and come to the same original conclusion that Bao did.
"He puts it in detail in his report why this new information is consistent with what we see on that video and is consistent with the physical evidence," Crump said.
City officials argued that they do not have the authority to request a coroner's inquest. Ridgeway said there is no factual basis for it.
"In our investigation we acknowledged there was fault from the officer. We said our vehicle caused the death of Mr. Brown," Ridgeway said.
The Brown family said they will request a meeting with the State Attorney's Office for a coroner's inquest, where they will present the new evidence. They said they hope state officials will order a new grand jury to review the evidence.