Brandon Ellingson
Brandon Ellingson was an Arizona State University student from Clive, Iowa. In May 2014, while in the custody of a Missouri state trooper at the Lake of the Ozarks, he fell out of a boat while handcuffed and wearing a life vest that was not properly secured, and he drowned after the trooper jumped in and could not save him. A Morgan County jury found in 2014 that the death was an accident. In 2016 the state agreed to pay his family $9 million to settle their civil lawsuit, and his father, Craig Ellingson, said the money would not bring his son back.
Cause of death, as reported: Died in an accident (disputed; neglect alleged). A Morgan County jury ruled his death an accident, but his family's civil lawsuit alleged the handcuffed man was left in an improperly secured life vest, and the state settled for $9 million in 2016.
Reported by: a Morgan County jury (court); the Missouri Highway Patrol (the agency that held him); his family's civil lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His family sued the Missouri Highway Patrol and the state, which agreed to pay $9 million to settle the civil suit in 2016.