The autopsy report for Glenn Foster Jr., the former New Orleans Saints player who died in Alabama police custody, showed no signs of strangulation, despite claims from the family’s high-profile attorney.
Foster was arrested on December 4, 2021 following a speeding violation while attempting to evade police. He was taken into custody after police used spike strips to disable the vehicle. Foster was charged with reckless endangerment and resisting arrest and was sent to the Pickens County Jail. Two days later he was found in the back of a police squad car with no response.
Foster reportedly had an argument with another inmate while in prison, which earned him fresh assault and robbery charges because authorities attempted to steal the other inmate’s socks. One inmate was injured in the incident, and a sheriff’s deputy was reportedly slightly injured while breaking up the fight.
The additional charges brought Foster before a Pickens County judge, who deemed Foster a threat to himself and others and ordered that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
After Foster’s death, the family hired civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump to handle the case.
Shortly after being restrained by family, Crump claimed an independent autopsy found “evidence of strangulation.”
“The death of Glenn Foster Jr. while in the care and custody of the Pickens County Sheriff was not from natural causes as the independent autopsy indicates there was some evidence of neck compression and strangulation,” Crump said in an explanation. “As we continue to investigate the case, we learn that Mr. Foster’s death in Pickens County appears to be part of a disturbing trend of black men dying in the custody of the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office. Keeping people in your care alive is literally the lowest bar we can set for a law enforcement agency, and that’s something the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t done.
An autopsy obtained by 1819 News, performed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences the day after Foster’s death, listed Foster’s death as “natural”, with the cause being hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
Hypertensive cardiovascular disease is a condition that develops over several years when high blood pressure is untreated.
Contrary to Crump’s claims, the state autopsy found no injury to the neck, and there were no signs of compression or trauma.
The only injuries noted by the coroner were “abrasions around the right and left wrists” and bruises to the “left arm, left knee and left thigh.” There was also a graze on the nose.
Foster had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time of the autopsy.
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