Suspect in Md. Officer's Death Was Strangled

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White Family Urges Thorough Investigation

Attorney Bob Henry issues a statement on behalf of the White family regarding the investigation into Ronnie White's death.

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However, the source said that to enter White's cell, someone would have needed a key from the maximum-security control booth or from officers assigned to the unit or would have had to pop the lock.

Sgt. Curtis Knowles, president of the county Correctional Officers Association, said two corrections officers were assigned to the unit where White was housed. Knowles estimated that one of the officers is in his mid-20s and the other is in his mid-30s. Both have solid records, Knowles said.

Knowles said the 10:15 a.m. check was noted on a computerized log. At 10:35, a guard went to White's cell with lunch, officials said. White did not respond to knocks, Knowles said. The officer then notified his partner that he had to go into the cell, Knowles said. That alone would not be unusual, because inmates often fall asleep, Knowles said.

The officer found White sitting on the floor, unresponsive and without a pulse, Knowles said. White was taken by ambulance to Prince George's Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.

White was dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and had blankets and sheets in his cell, Knowles said. On Sunday, Col. Gregory Harris, the jail's deputy director of operations, said no cloth or rope was allowed in White's cell.

Dimitri L. Contostavlos, the retired medical examiner of Delaware County, Pa., said strangulation typically leaves bruising from a ropelike object, the hands or an arm or foot. Strangulation is often accompanied by the cracking or breaking of the hyoid, thyroid and cricoid, which form the voice box, he said.

"Generally speaking, pressure has to be applied for several minutes" to kill someone, Contostavlos said. "To subdue another adult would take pretty much all the strength of most people."

Staff writers Hamil R. Harris, Ruben Castaneda, Nelson Hernandez and James Hohmann and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.