Police Left Man’s Remains at Crash Scene, Then Tossed Them in Trash: Lawsuit

A Michigan mother says she was “mortified” after learning she had held a funeral and cremated her 19-year-old son without all of his remains, including what a lawsuit describes as a “significant portion” of his brain, because first responders allegedly threw some body parts away.

Jessica Ostrowski’s son, Ethan Bennett, died in July 2023 following a “fatal traffic wreck” while riding a motorcycle in Inkster, according to a federal lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Michigan.

The crash left Bennett with a “catastrophic head injury,” the complaint says. Citing details from an Inkster Police Department investigator’s report, the lawsuit alleges officers arrived to find Bennett’s brain “fully removed from his skull,” with “skull fractures and hair from the deceased scattered around the parking lot and the cement parking blocks.”

According to the complaint and the investigator’s report, the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office responded to the scene to take custody of Bennett’s body “and all body parts that had been separated.” After that, the Irving Fire Department allegedly decided to clean the area and “conduct a wash down,” the documents state.

Ostrowski’s lawsuit claims firefighters “deprived plaintiff of due process” by washing down the site of Ethan’s death without first ensuring his remains were properly collected for burial. Instead, the complaint alleges, large portions of Bennett’s brain, skull and scalp were improperly discarded or left at the scene. Police are also accused in the filing of being involved in the failure to recover all of Bennett’s body parts.

“After the scene of the accident was formally released, plaintiff was horrified to discover that large pieces of Ethan’s brain and scalp not only remained left behind on the pavement but were also found in a common garbage bin,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plainly, the scene was released even though Ethan’s bodily remains were not properly removed with the respect due under the circumstances. The insensitive and improper handling of Ethan’s bodily remains has caused plaintiff significant emotional suffering and mental anguish.”

Bennett’s postmortem report from the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office noted that, “Internally, no brain matter was present” during the autopsy. The report also said the office received, separate from the body, “a portion of posterior parietal and occipital scalp (7 x 6 inch) with multiple attached fragments of fractured calvarium and 500 gm of pulpified brain tissue.”

Ostrowski’s complaint notes how the “average weight of an adult male’s brain is 1,400 grams.” It accuses county workers of depriving “due process by mutilating Ethan’s bodily remains” and claiming to take possession of “all body parts that had been separated” when, in fact, they left “significant portions of Ethan’s brain, skull, and scalp” at the scene, Ostrowski’s lawyers argue.

“They released the scene of Ethan’s death without first verifying that Ethan’s bodily remains had been properly handled with the respect owed to a deceased individual and their family,” the complaint says. “Defendants’ conduct was reckless and showed callous indifference toward plaintiff’s rights.”

Ostrowski’s complaint says that in Michigan, a decedent’s next of kin “possesses a clearly established common-law right, akin to a property right, to respectfully dispose of the body of the deceased, possess the body for burial, and prevent its mutilation.” It adds that a “next of kin’s interest in a decedent’s bodily remains qualifies as a property interest constitutionally protected by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United State Constitution’s prohibition on deprivations of property by states without due process law.”

Speaking to local NBC affiliate WDIV, Ostrowski said the entire situation has been “awful” to go through.

“I was just mortified,” she said about finding out that Bennett’s remains had been allegedly thrown away in a garbage bin.

“No mother, or anybody should ever have to go to a crash scene and witness that,” Ostrowski explained. “They found parts of head, hair, and brain matter in the trash and throughout the parking lot… And there’s still no closure.”

One of Bennett’s best friends “went in the middle of the night” to the crash scene and found “a large piece of Ethan’s head,” according to Ostrowski.

“This was my son’s hair. You know, part of his skull,” she said. “In the trash.”

Ostrowski added, “How did he not matter?”

Todd Perkins, attorney for the City of Inkster, sent WDIV the following statement:

“The circumstances surrounding Mr. Bennett’s death in 2023 were tragic. Our thoughts and prayers remain with his family. With that understanding, calling to end these employees’ careers gets ahead of the facts. The City has conducted a complete and thorough investigation, and we’re confident the Inkster Police and Fire Departments handled the scene appropriately and professionally. Upon information and belief, this matter has been reviewed by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, and that office has charged no one with any wrongdoing. We await an opportunity to defend against these allegations in court.”

The post Cops opened crash scene to public with ‘large portions’ of man’s brain, skull and scalp on pavement, some of it was thrown away in ‘common garbage bin’: Lawsuit first appeared on Law & Crime.