FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) – No criminal charges will be filed in the investigation of a man who had a medical emergency in the back of a Fond Du Lac squad car.
Fond Du Lac District Attorney Eric Toney says the investigation revealed that 37-year-old Christopher Cary died from a cocaine overdose and there was nothing that occurred that would give him reason to believe that anyone involved in the process should face criminal charges for his death.
Toney says it is believed that Cary swallowed a large amount of cocaine that he had on him during a traffic stop.
“What Mr. Cary ultimately did was took unpackaged raw cocaine, placed it presumably in his mouth and ingested it in hopes that officers would not be able to find that cocaine.”
Toney says Cary did have an open cocaine-related case in Fond Du Lac County that he was on bond for.
The medical examiner confirmed Cary died of acute cocaine toxicity.
Cary was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Toney confirmed that Cary was pulled over for driving a vehicle without a front license plate.
Following standard procedure, the Fond du Lac Police Dept. put three officers involved in the case on administrative assignment immediately following Cary’s death.
The officers were reinstated to active duty on January 10th.
On Friday, Cary’s family released the following statement.
On December 23, 2018, Christopher Cary died during what should have been a routine traffic stop. Christopher did not die by his own hand, as District Attorney Toney would have you believe. Christopher died because he was illegally searched and detained for over an hour, and not provided urgent medical care. He never should have been in that situation in the first place, and he certainly should not have died because of it.
The official cause of Christopher’s death may have been ‘acute cocaine toxicity.’ But this does not excuse the fact that the Fond du Lac Police Department did not take seriously Christopher’s medical condition and failed to provide him the urgent medical care that he needed.
Christopher was entitled to Due Process of the Law, as every American is; instead, he was tried and convicted in the back seat of a police car. This sends a chilling message to all Fond du Lac residents that the police can arbitrarily stop you, detain you, and control whether you live or die.
Christopher leaves behind a loving family and three daughters, all of whom are grieving and deeply disturbed by the fact that his death could have been prevented. Christopher’s family intends to file a federal lawsuit to hold accountable those who caused Christopher’s untimely death.
