KEY WEST, FL–Charles Eimers, 61, retired to Florida last year to gain some peace and relaxation after 20 years as an autoworker. But shortly after moving from Michigan, Eimers died following a run in with police, and his family is adamant that there is a coverup. “He was murdered by those officers,” his son Treavor Eimers told CBS.
The events took place last Thanksgiving, when Eimers was pulled over by police for reckless driving. From there, a number of contradicting reports appear. Police reports say Eimers fled the scene and resisted an officer with violence, but police told paramedics that Eimers had fled and collapsed on the beach. Additionally, police told the hospital that Eimers “was found without a pulse by police”. Cell phone video released two weeks after the arrest contradicts all of these claims.
In the video, Eimers can clearly be seen calmly surrendering to the police before being swarmed by over a dozen officers. What happened afterwards is unclear, but the video proved to Treavor Eimers that he had been lied to by the police.
Eimers’ family wasn’t notified for four days following the incident, despite police having all of his contact information. A detective charged with the task claimed he didn’t tell the family what happened because Eimers was on life support and hadn’t died yet.
“I believe that my father was asphyxiated on the beach in Key West by the officers involved that day,” said Eimers, a former critical care nurse.
His suspicions are compounded by the fact that the lies from law enforcement have never stopped. Eimers asked for his father to be taken off life support, and assumed he would then be given an autopsy. What police did next not only violates protocol, but decency itself.
Florida law clearly states an autopsy must be conducted on a person who dies while in police custody, but in an attempt to cover their tracks, police sent his body to a funeral home, where it was almost cremated.
The body was intercepted and taken to the medical examiner’s office, where evidence of foul play was discovered. The coroner revealed Eimers had 10 fractured ribs, bruises on his wrists from the handcuffs, but no signs of a heart attack were visible.
The police continue to claim that Eimers was violently resisting arrest, so much so that one “officer’s finger got caught in the handcuffs” during the struggle. Let’s put aside the fact that such a thing could easily happen without any resisting, particularly when there are so many cops crowded over one suspect; if the man was simply struggling for his life while the combined weight of multiple officers was killing him, that cannot be resisting arrest.
Police Chief Lee said, “We want to be able to provide answers to the Eimers family. We want to provide answers to this community. And we want the police officers who are involved to be able to move on from this situation as well.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has opened an investigation, but justice will not likely be served. The state’s lead investigator used to be married to the supervisor of the officers involved, suggesting a clear conflict of interest. Lee’s claims that he wants the officers involved “to be able to move on” also indicates that no punishment will be administered for the murder of Charles Eimers, and the conspiracy to cover it up. All of the officers involved are still on active duty.
Treavor Eimers is not giving up, and is urging witnesses to come forward. The family is also working with their attorney to secure police dashcam videos of the arrest. “We miss our dad; we miss him a lot. My dad may not be able to say anything now, but he’s speaking loud and clear.”
[about_faith]
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