An investigation into the hanging death of a Black man discovered in a Northern California park has been reopened after the local community expressed concerns around the incident. 38-year-old Willie Brown Jr. was found hanging from a basketball rim in Countryside Park in Sacramento earlier this month.
Sacramento Metro Fire Department Station 51 arrived on the scene, and cut Brown down from the rim, and performed life-saving measures to keep him alive while he was taken to the hospital.
Sacramento Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Rodney Grassmann told the Sacramento Bee there was no evidence of foul play or any indication that the death was “anything but a suicide.” However, Brown’s family has raised suspicions about his death.
“Something just doesn’t add up,” Willie’s mother, Sandra Brown said, “and I’m demanding a thorough investigation of what happened to my son. The boy that I know couldn’t have done anything like this to himself.”
Brown’s brother Jonathan Brown says last week while Willie remained unresponsive on life support that he didn’t want police officials “try to sweep it under the rug.”
“I want to get to the bottom of this,” he said. “I just hope that somebody in this community say that they seen something. … I’m not taking that suicide for an answer.”
The family is now requesting a full investigation by the FBI Hate Crimes Unit.
“We have seen a pattern of Black men being hung over the last few months all the while witnessing the violence white supremacist terror groups have been planning and executing in the same time frame,” the family’s GoFundMe page read.
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