Colin Kaepernick To Fund Autopsy For Black Delta State Student

The NFL star turned activist, Colin Kaepernick, is helping to fund an independent autopsy for a Black Delta State University student, Demartravion “Trey” Reed, after his family disputed the official suicide ruling.

Reed, 21, was found dead hanging from a tree at the university located in Cleveland, Mississippi on Monday morning, Sept. 15.

Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, said that Kaepernick’s “Know Your Rights Camp Autospy Initiative” will cover the costs of a second autopsy, he told WJTV.

“Trey’s death evoked the collective memory of a community that has suffered a historic wound over many, many years and many, many deaths. Peace will come only by getting to the truth,” Crump said in a statement. “We thank Colin Kaepernick for supporting this grieving family and the cause of justice and truth.”

Vanessa J. Jones, another attorney representing the Reed family, said that the Grenada County Sheriff’s Department told the family that Trey was found dead in his dorm room, but the family later learned that was not the case, according to an article in the Mississippi Press.

“The media knew about Trey’s death before the family did,” Jones said in the article.

On Thursday, Sept. 18, the Cleveland Police Department said that an autopsy conducted by the Medical Examiners determined that Reed had died by suicide.

Rumors had spread on social media saying that Reed had also suffered lacerations and had bruises during the time of his death. Boliver County Coroner Rudolph Seals said that medical examiners did not find any signs of an assault on Reed’s body.

Mtume Mathews, a 20-year-old student and basketball player at DSU, told the Clarion Ledger that university students are still in shock.

“You really don’t expect to wake up in the morning and hear somebody’s hanging from a tree. That’s first,” Mathews said in the article. “We just want to know what happens next. That’s what I have been hearing from students.”