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NFL star and noted activist Colin Kaerpernick is paying for an independent second autopsy for a Mississippi college student who was found hanging from a tree.
Demartravion “Trey” Reed, 21, was a student at Delta State University whose body was found on campus a week ago. The state’s medical examiner ruled it a suicide, but the manner in which he died has sparked suspicion amid heighened racial tension across the country.
“Trey’s death evoked the collective memory of a community that has suffered a historic wound over many, many years and many, many deaths,” Attorney Benjamin Crump, who’s representing the family, wrote in a statement. “Peace will come only by getting to the truth. We thank Colin Kaepernick for supporting this grieving family and the cause of justice and truth.”
Immediately after reports of Reed’s death circulated, civil rights activists pushed for a thorough investigation, citing Mississippi’s long and bloody history of lynchings, including the brutal death of Emmett Till in 1955.
On Wednesday, the Mississippi state examiner conducted an autopsy that ruled out foul play in Reed’s death. The Cleveland City Police Department has reportedly handed their findings over the FBI, which said they’re willing to investigate further if evidence “if, during the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal violation.”
On Friday, Crump announced that Kaepernick, a vocal advocate against police brutality and racial injustice, will be paying for an independent autopsy on Reed’s body as soon as it’s released from the state medical examiner. The money will be coming from Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp’s Autopsy Initiative, which provides free, second autopsies for those whose loved ones have died in police custody or under other suspicious circumstances.
Other than the second autopsy, the family has also demanded that law enforcement release all video related to Reed’s death. On Wednesday, Delta State Director of Public Safety confirmed that there was security footage that they’re investigating, but did not comment on whether or not it showed Reed before his death.
“Trey’s family deserves answers they can trust,” Crump wrote in statement. “We cannot accept rushed conclusions when the stakes are this high.”