Traumatic brain injury, organ damage, shattered bones - these fatal injuries were all sustained by a 14-year-old Black girl who police say simply fell from her scooter. However, her family refuses to believe this was nothing more than an accident.
Treysuhr Carter was found by a passing motorist face up and unresponsive on the ground feet away from her scooter on Farmhaven Road in northeast Austin last year, per KXAN. Carter was taken to Dell Children’s Hospital where she was placed on life support with serious injuries including a broken neck, brain injury, organ damage and a shattered shin bone, the report says.
After three days, she was taken off the machine and pronounced dead. Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report led the cops to close the case, ruling out foul play or any other contributing factor.
According to newly released body camera footage obtained by KXAN, Austin police arrived at Carter’s home shortly after Carter’s death to share their conclusion that the girl’s death was an accident.
“So usually when someone is struck by a vehicle, there’s a lot of physical evidence. People sustain a lot more injuries - this seems consistent to me [with] more of a scooter fall,” said the detective in the footage.
The officer followed by saying he wasn’t sure she was struck by a vehicle as Carter’s family insisted.
“You have to give us a better explanation, because I’m getting agitated right now because you basically telling me you about to rule it out as an accident,” said Carter’s sister, Teneisha Plummer, in the video.
Aside from her grave injuries, Carter’s family told KXAN other factors such as her athleticism in basketball and football as well as ability to handle a dirt bike made it hard to believe she’d be clumsy enough to harm herself so severely on a scooter.
KXAN’s investigation also found evidence such as the scooter and Carter’s durag were left at the scene. After the outlet brought these pieces of information forward in July, the medical examiner amended their autopsy to say “a motor vehicle was most likely involved.”
As of now, the Austin Police Department reopened the case to conduct their own review yet providing Carter’s family with little to no details.
“Reopening the case is fine. It’s actually great,” Plummer told KXAN. “But what are the next steps, being that you collected evidence for an accident and not a crime?”