Cape couple's son dies in Tennessee in police custody

The Cape Girardeau parents of a man who died in police custody after running naked along a downtown Chattanooga, Tenn., street and scuffling with officers have ordered a second autopsy.

Dr. Loretta Prater, dean of the College of Health and Human Services at Southeast Missouri State University, and her husband, Dwight Prater, requested the autopsy on their son, Leslie Vaughn Prater, a 37-year-old artist living in Chattanooga. Dwight Prater works with the university's facilities management office.

The couple paid $2,000 to a private forensics lab owned by state medical examiner Dr. Bruce Levy for the autopsy he performed in Nashville six days after the Jan. 2 death.

"We want justice," Loretta Prater said. "We don't know if justice will be served, because we're not in that decision-making ring, but I don't want another mother to go through this as well."

The couple moved to Cape Girardeau about a year and a half ago from Chattanooga, where they had lived for most of their lives, she said. Their son had never resided in Cape Girardeau.

The incident began after a witness called 911 to report Leslie Prater had parked his car, got out, stripped and began running around near the 800 block of Central Avenue, records show.

He resisted when officers tried to take him into custody, and attempts to use pepper spray did not subdue him, police said. An ambulance was called while officers scuffled with the man, who lost consciousness and later died at Erlanger hospital, authorities said.

Police previously said there was "no physical evidence whatsoever which would indicate any excessive force being used by the arresting officers." A police spokesman said toxicology tests were continuing.

Loretta Prater acknowledged her son had drug problems in his early 20s, but she said those problems were long behind him and that she doesn't believe drugs were involved in his death.

"The issue isn't drugs -- it's what happened between 6:47 p.m. when they were called and 7:25 p.m. when he ended up in the emergency room without a pulse," she said.

She said officers positioned her son in a way that prevented his breathing.

"He was not trying to fight," she said. "He was only trying to live."

Multiple injuries

While the police department's official autopsy results have not been released, Loretta Prater said Levy's autopsy found that asphyxiation contributed to her son's death.

"He also had six broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a fractured left shoulder," she said. "There were bruises in his sternum and in his scrotum area. Blood collected there like it had come from kicking, and there were bruises up and down the left side of his body like he had been beaten."

She said the CPR performed on her son at the scene could not account for the six broken ribs.

"Your child's life is gone, so there's no excuse for that," she said Tuesday.

She also said the police department should seek alternatives to excessive force and the use of pepper spray.

"It works differently on different people," she said. "If you have a pre-existing condition, like if you're asthmatic, it could kill you."

The four officers involved in the arrest have returned to work since being suspended without pay for one week.

The Praters met privately Monday with Chattanooga's new police chief, Steve Parks, who said the department's major crimes unit and internal affairs division were investigating the death.

"I did not have specifics to discuss with them beyond what they already knew," Parks said.

Loretta Prater hopes to find out more from the investigations, though police told her it could take six to 12 months, she said.

"Anytime we ask for information, we're told this is an ongoing investigation, and they can't release anything more," she said.

That's why the family's attorney, John Wolfe, will conduct a private investigation, she said.

Staff writer Mike Wells contributed to this report.