MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis attorneys are calling out the Memphis Police Department, saying they’ve turned over audio revealing that Bardo Perez Hernandez may have survived if he received medical attention.
Hernandez is the man who was found dead inside of a van at the MPD impound lot, six weeks after he was shot.
“We are giving the public the opportunity to examine what we gave police, the mayor and the director of police the opportunity to examine,” Attorneys said.
In March 2018, a medical examiner testified during a preliminary hearing that Hernandez may be alive if the wasn’t left bleeding in the back of a utility van.
On Thursday, attorneys for his family released audio from that hearing.
“The big question is, was this man immediately dead, or did he have to die alone in a van with a million people around him and cop lights as he bleeds out?” the medical examiner asked.
It’s a question that finally has an answer.
Even with that admittance, Aaron Neglia says the city hasn’t provided them with any more information.
“It’s just an absolute blanket of silence,” Aaron Neglia said.
It’s an entirely different story from February when MPD Director Mike Rallings said there was no explanation for how the deceased victim remained in the vehicle without being detected.
These attorneys agree with that.
“We know approximately 19 Memphis police officers came in contact with the van extensively.
They say there’s no way, crime scene investigators should have missed a living man.
WREG found that on December 18, 2017 at least six police offers showed up to the shooting scene on Yale to find Hernandez’s friend, Pablo Castro, shot.
“We believe this is a pure act of negligence in its purest form,”
It wasn’t until six weeks later once Castro’s wife and son showed up to the impound lot, that Hernandez was discovered.
The attorneys say they hope hearing that Hernandez’s life could have been saved pushes the Memphis Police Department to make sure this doesn’t happen ever again.
The family is appalled by it they made all these promises, and they haven’t reached out to us.
Chief Legal Officer Bruce McMullen released a statement saying, “We are continuing to review the matter and will take appropriate action when our review is complete.”