Newspapers / Fayetteville State University Student … / March 9, 1998, edition 1 / Page 8
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8 The Bronco# Voicc March 9. 1998 “ACCIDENT?”frompg. 6 assistant medical examiner with the AFIP, performed the examination of Ron Brown. A number of AFIP personnel were present during the exami nation. Those who were present included Enrich Junger, AFIP’s chief forensic scien tist; Army Lieutenant Colonel David Hause, AFIP forensic pathologist; Jeanmarie Sentelle, a naval criminal in vestigator; Kathleen Janoski, a photographer with AFIP; and Lieutenant General Glen Ross, a medical services officer. Dr. Gormley described Brown’s body as the “intact but partially burned body of a middle-aged black male with curly black hair, brown eyes, a black mustache, and natural dentition..” Brown’s pelvic bone had been shattered, and he had lacerations and abra sions about his face and fore head. The examination of the head revealed a “depressed skull fracture” at the very top. Gormley said that the hole was a “round, punch out defect in the outer table of the skull.” The hole was noted by Gormley as being approxi mately 0.5 inches in diameter, it also got wider as it got deeper. Kathleen Janoski, while looking on said,” Wow! Look at that hole in Brown’s head. It looks like a bullet hole.” She then took a number of pictures of the hole. Colonel Gormley called Lt. Col Cogswell, who was at the crash site, and told him to look for a cylindrical object that could have created a round hole in Brown’s skull. Dr. Cogswell was unable to find any item among the debris that could explain the hole. Col. Gormley found the hole in Brown’s head to be odd, but he did not believe it to be a bullet hole. Although no piece of aircraft was found to ex plain the hole, Gormley be lieved that a metal fastener or rivet must have struck Brown’s head. He did not think it was a bullet hole because the hole did not “go all the way through the skull.” He also noted that there was no exit wound. Upon arriving back at Do ver, and reviewing photos and x-rays of Ron Brown, Dr. Cogswell came to dispute Gormley’s analysis. Cogswell said the brain matter could be seen in the wound. He said that side x-rays of the head clearly showed the “bone-plug” which was driven into the head as a result of a cylindrical object having penetrated the skull. Cogswell went on to at tacked the Gormley’s claim that it could not have been a bullet because there was no exit wound. Cogswell believes that the bullet is still in Brown’s body. Body x-rays showed a strange object lodged in Brown’s pelvic region. Dr. Cogswell believes that this ob ject is the bullet. Copies of Brown’s x-rays were shown to another expert. Dr. Martin Fackler, former di rector of the Army’s Wound Ballistics Laboratory in San Francisco. Fackler said that it was “very difficult to see how something like a rivet could have produced Brown’s head wound.” He also said that there was some visible brain matter in the wound. Fackler said that the wound was “ round as hell.” “I’m impressed by how very, very round it is. That’s unusual except for a gunshot wound. It’s unusual for anything else” Fackler said. Dr. Cogswell, who com pleted his forensic pathology training in Miami, where he “saw an awful lot of gunshot wounds,” noted a “perfectly circular hole on the top of Ron Brown’s head.” He said that the wound was “an apparent gunshot wound.” Cogswell believed that not performing an autopsy on Brown was a mistake. Even though the AFIP did not have the authority to perform an autopsy on Brown, they could have received authorization if they had sought it. Under the provisions of the Presidential Assassination Statute, the AFIP, if foul play was sus pected, could have alerted the FBI, and then been given per mission to perform autopsies. Cogswell said that an autopsy should have also been per formed on Commerce Aide, Naomi Wasloasse’s body, be cause the x-rays and external evaluation did not reveal any “discernible cause of death.” In an interview with Pitts burgh Tribune Review writer, Christopher Ruddy, Dr. Cogswell said, “You can’t ig nore who this person is. You can’t ignore the controversy surrounding him. To stack up the coincidences: one of thirty- six people has got a hole; the hole is in the head; the hole is dead center in the top of their head; and it just happens to be the most important person on that plane from a political point of view. That’s a whole lot of reason to investigate it. Even if you safely assumed an acci dental plane crash, when you get something that appears to be a homicide, that should bring everything to a screech ing halt. The whole thing stinks,” he said. ERNEST RANGLIN MEMORIES OF BARBER MACK Memories of Barber Mack is the second release on Island Jamaica Jazz by one of Jamaica's finest guitarists, Ernest Ranglin. Ranglin helped shape the course of Jamaican music over five decades and brought his country’s culture to global attention. Both releases feature guest appearances by SLY DUNBAR and JON WILLIAMS PoyQ>a. eim (»Und Rvcord* Lid Also available on Islaiid jamaica jazz: MONTY ALEXANDER yard Movement ERNEST RANGLIN Below the BassHne DEAN FRASER 8/C UPl Big Up!, the debut release by the most celebrated saxophonist in Jamaica today is a master-class in the art of jazz/reggae virtuosity. DEAN FRASER
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