Last week, after hearing from 43 witnesses and reviewing physical and digital evidence, a Mississippi grand jury found no evidence of criminal conduct in the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, whose body was found after his disappearance during a Fourth of July boating trip. But Sunday on MS NOW's PoliticsNation, host Reverend Al Sharpton made it crystal clear he was not going to let that decision go unchallenged. It has to be racism!
Last Thursday, Wells family attorney Ben Crump held a press conference making claims that Sharpton followed up on as he began his segment on the grand jury findings.
SHARPTON: Ben Crump, revealed on Thursday that the state autopsy found no water in Nolan's lungs, airways or stomach and documented two contusions on the back of his head.
Sharpton then turned to MS NOW reporter Maya Eaglin, and during his introduction, revealed his activism as it relates to this case.
SHARPTON: Maya, I've been involved in this story in support of parents to find out the truth of what ever happened, or in my capacity as president of National Action Network. I delivered the eulogy at Nolan Wells' funeral in July and have stood with this family as they've pushed for answers in this case. I've also released a statement regarding the grand jury's decision that I strongly disagree with the conclusion that there was no criminal wrongdoing, and I will not allow this decision to become the final word on Nolan's death.
Not that Sharpton has any actual evidence of wrongdoing.
SHARPTON: I'm not saying who did what, but I'm saying, how do you rule out when when we see these findings of the injury on his head and others and you can't tell us what happened, how do we know there was no criminal activity by anybody?
Maybe hearing from 43 witnesses and looking over physical and digital evidence, police reports, interviews, videos, images and maps, had something to do with that decision, something Sharpton did not do. He then threw it to Eaglin.
SHARPTON: So let's talk about the autopsy. Both the state medical examiner and the family's independent pathologist left Nolan's cause and manner of death undetermined. What does that tell us, and how does it square with the grand jury claiming the evidence was consistent with drowning?
EAGLIN: What the state autopsy showed, as you also mentioned, no water in his lungs or his stomach or his throat....Ben Crump has a lot of concerns as to how this jury could determine that his death was consistent with drowning if there was no water in some of his organs. We're seeing some pushback from the District Attorney, she is saying and other medical experts that that is not necessarily the only way to determine if someone has drowned or not. But right now, there's just so many question marks, and it's hard to parse through conflicting reports and understanding what really happened and what not. What Nolan's family says is they're not going to stop investigating until they get definitive answers.
SHARPTON: Absolutely. And so many of us that support the family, whatever it is. But saying that there are other ways other than water in your lungs and other places, well, they didn't tell us what those other ways are.
If Sharpton had been legitimately interested in finding out, he might have done some research and found that Louisiana coroner Dr. Christopher Tape said in a statement, "Paradoxically, you won't find water in the airways for some of these drownings for someone who's been dead for a while necessarily. After a few days, the water is going to distribute everywhere, so it becomes difficult to conclude."
Sharpton then mentioned the issue of Snapchat data having been removed from Nolan's phone, prior to it being retrieved by the family, according to a forensic expert hired by the family. Sharpton did point out that the DA found that the deletions came from Snapchat users and not from someone physically accessing Nolan's phone. After further discussion of the phone with Eaglin, Sharpton asked her about reopening the investigation should new evidence emerge.
EAGLIN: I think that the family is going to push forward with this. It is very clear, as you know, Rev, that they do not want this to be the end of the story.
To her credit Eaglin did note that Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath ripped Crump following his presser, "his conduct in this case, have demonstrated that he is not worthy of our trust.," before concluding, "Nolan's family and his legal team, they are not giving up the fight."
Sharpton then reinforced his bias on the issue.
SHARPTON: And neither are civil rights groups like National Action Network.
MSNBC and MS NOW have clearly allowed Reverend Al to keep race-hustling on the weekdays and see no conflict of interest for their "news" channel.
