Official may have been hit by vehicle before falling off bridge

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. -- Several authorities are challenging the theory of Illinois State Police that East St. Louis city manager Harvey Henderson fell to his death off the Poplar Street Bridge.

They contend Henderson was knocked over the safety railing by a car or truck.

St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone, who had not publicly mentioned the possibility that Henderson was struck by a vehicle, said Friday that he suspected it all along.

And former East St. Louis Mayor Carl Officer, who supervised the embalming of Henderson's body, said he doubts the death was accidental.

Dr. Frank Peretti, associate medical examiner for the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock, reviewed Henderson's autopsy records at the request of the Belleville News-Democrat. His unofficial findings could support an accidental death or intentional homicide ruling.

"He was hit by a car or maybe a truck," Peretti said, adding that large bruises and fractured ribs on the left side of the body are evidence that he was struck while walking along the far right side of the bridge pavement. The Mississippi River bridge connects East St. Louis with St. Louis.

"Why are the injuries on the left and not on the right?" Peretti asked. "That is significant."

Early in the evening of Aug. 29, Henderson's Ford Explorer blew two tires and skidded to a halt in the far right lane of the bridge. An autopsy later revealed that his blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit of .08 percent.

His body was discovered by a state highway worker about half an hour later in a grassy area below the bridge.

'Scooted' along barrier

Illinois State Police investigator Joe Bates testified during the Oct. 9 coroner's inquest that the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Henderson somehow climbed across the console and exited through a broken passenger window, which put him directly over a 50-foot drop.

Bates testified that Henderson "scooted" along the concrete barrier and somehow fell to his death over the waist-high wall at a spot about 20 feet in front of the Explorer.

Officer said Friday the injuries he saw on the back of Henderson's head during the embalming led him to believe Henderson's death was not accidental.

The Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis should be activated to investigate Henderson's death, Officer said.

"I have serious suspicions about what happened to Harvey Henderson," he said. "I seriously doubt this was an accident."

Stone said Friday that while he suspected from the beginning that Henderson had been struck by a car, he never mentioned it to police investigators or brought it up during the inquest.

Instead of raising questions himself, as coroners routinely do in other counties, Stone allowed Bates to give a different explanation to inquest jurors.

"It's not my job to put words in their mouth. It's their investigation," Stone said, "I still believe it was an accident."