What we do and don’t know about Rodney Freeman’s death
THE CHASE:
MADISON, Wis., — Over five hours of audio recordings that I obtained from Madison police scanner airwaves on Saturday, June 27 tell a clear story of Monona police officers actions after a car crash near Monona Drive and subsequent police search for a subject in a Monona neighborhood.
Police connected these events to the death of Rodney Freeman, a 21-year old black man found drowned on Monday evening in a lagoon. The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigations initially announced the connection in a Tuesday morning press release.
According to the audio tapes, the first officer — badge 8512 — to initiate a pursuit did so after an officer witnessed a dark-colored Chrysler 200 sedan that “saw me and took off,” he said.
Over the radio, he informs dispatch he is moving in to intercept the vehicle via Shato Lane. He claimed at the time that he ran the plates and found outstanding charges. But seconds later, he is uncertain of the plate number, saying it started with “A-G-Y, I think.”
Monona police officers activated their sirens and pursued the vehicle Westbound on Femrite Drive. Officers report they witnessed the vehicle travel straight onto Monona Drive, eventually traveling at high speeds through the Studio Z parking lot.
The vehicle eventually hit a curb at high speeds, becoming airborne, and crashed into several trees. “He went straight down the hill here, behind Studio Z,” said an officer. They also reported electrical wires down and a vehicle on fire.
Over the radio, an uninvolved officer reports a summary: “Monona was involved in a 10–80, looks like there was a crash, now they are in a foot pursuit.” Dispatch confirmed shortly after that Fire Department personnel were on the way to Monona Drive.
According to the audio, Officer 8512 pursued the fleeing subject through a hole in a fence or gate behind Studio Z. Through heavy breathing, 8512 describes who he and his partner are following: “male black, wearing jeans and a white T-shirt.”
Shortly after, an officer is heard stating, “I don’t know where my partner went. But my guess is [the subject] will try to flee west,” towards Bridge Road, he said.
At this point, other officers begin to set up a perimeter around the neighborhood to block exits. The officers in pursuit chased the suspect northbound on Queens Way, searching in backyards. The immediate search spans the area around Sylvan Lane, Frost Woods Road, LaBelle Lane, Gateway Green, and Kristi Circle.
Around roughly 30 minutes into the audio record, Officer 8512 inquires about a K9 he heard was in the area. Then at around 45 minutes into the audio recording, Officer 8512 is picked up by another officer and goes back to the crash site.
“Can you come to the car with a camera?” an officer asked. “I got evidence bags and I want to recover this .32,” apparently referencing a .32 mm handgun. For the rest of the night, according to the audio records, officers have no success locating the suspect.
Much later in the scanner recordings, around 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, an officer stated without much context, “that name is going to be Rodney Freeman,” which he then spells for dispatch. I’ve not been able to find out how Freeman’s name came up or why, nor who he was reporting the ID to.
THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVE
No information on this incident comes out publicly Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. Not until Tuesday, at around 10:00 a.m., did law enforcement officials offer information to the public.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigations said in a press release that they had assumed investigative authority over the case, and are investigating it as an officer-involved-death.
These sort of O-I-D investigations happen when an officer is directly involved in the death of an individual. They are also conducted when an officer interacted, even indirectly, with an individual who later died in circumstances that are difficult to explain.
DCI announced Tuesday for the first time that a body was discovered. A witness who was not named spotted the body Monday at 5:45 p.m. in a lagoon behind several businesses on River Place Drive.
In the DCI release, investigators initially connected the deceased individual to the vehicle collision and foot chase Saturday after midnight, but did not say who it was. Investigators said the vehicle was connected to violent crimes committed in Madison.
An update to the release later on Tuesday stated that police matched property in the vehicle with the body. They did not specify what property was found, and how they were able to make the identification.
On Wednesday, the Dane County Medical Examiner’s office announced in a press release that a forensic autopsy was conducted on the body of Rodney Freeman, 21, who also went by Freeman. He died, “of a drowning,” the release said. More tests are underway.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET
A lot is still missing, but based on what we know, we can narrow down the questions we need to ask. Information from the DCI, when released, will likely touch on or address the following topics:
First, we have no idea what specific facts of the case triggered the DCI to become involved.
Though officer-involved-deaths always result in officers being placed on administrative duty throughout the duration — as in this case — we do not know why this is “officer-involved,” aside from Freeman being chased by police Saturday, days before his body was found.
DCI will deliver their findings at the conclusion of the investigation to the Dane County District Attorney’s office.
Second, this whole thing started when an officer saw a car, occupied by who he described as “two male blacks,” speed up suddenly in front of him. He said he ran the plates and found charges connected to the vehicle.
A CCAP search of Freeman confirmed that he had a warrant out for violent crimes he allegedly is connected to, but he was never proven guilty of those crimes. Regardless, that is not the reason why the vehicle was pursued. Only after officers began the chase did they run the plate. They were already locked on to the vehicle at that point.
But we have not been told who owns the vehicle that crashed Saturday morning, either. It is unclear whether or not Freeman owned the vehicle. It could be the case that another individual in the vehicle was the owner, or it could be that the vehicle belonged to someone else not present.
Third, we have no idea what happened to the other occupant or occupants of the vehicle. I’ve heard rumors about how many others were there, both from police and others, but regardless the initial radio call stated at least one other occupant.
While CCTV footage from a nearby building, obtained by NBC15, shows the vehicle colliding with trees at high speeds, no individuals can be seen exiting the vehicle. Admittedly, the quality of the footage is poor, but the video clearly shows that police arrived at the scene of the crash within 15 seconds of the collision.
The police said that between the time the car plowed through a tree and potentially a fence, and when officers arrived 15 seconds later, every occupant of the vehicle had already fled and no one was detained at that time.
We also know nothing regarding what happened to the vehicle after the crash. Was it totaled? Did it get towed off the scene by police? Was the owner contacted?
On the audio recordings, police call for a fire team to tend to a vehicle on fire, which had brought down some electrical lines. Its not clear whether this is the same vehicle that crashed carrying Freeman.
DCI also said they found property in the vehicle. But it is unclear at what point the vehicle was searched, or what property was taken. Police say that property from the vehicle helped police identify Freeman’s body when he was found on Monday.
Fourth, police also reportedly conducted a K-9 search. This would have required them finding something that smelled like Freeman for dogs to track. Whether that was clothing, scents stored in the upholstery car seats, or something else, we don’t know. We also don’t know if the same identifying property was used during the K-9 search. Police have not said.
The area encompassed by the police perimeter can be generally described by the graphics earlier in this story. This is the likely area that police K-9 units potentially searched on Saturday, though it is stated where or when the K-9 search went cold.
Fifth, information from the medical examiner is slim. We know only that a forensic autopsy was conducted and the cause of death was determined to be consistent with a drowning. That’s all.
No probable time of death, no estimates on how long he was submerged, the condition of his body when found, whether or not he received extraneous injuries before his death, whether or not he had wounds indicating any struggle or any other potentially life-threatening injuries.
Also, anonymous comments on social media seem to indicate that Freeman was a fit and competent swimmer. A good friend who is an experienced whitewater paddler reminded me that there are generally two types of drowning deaths: conscious and unconscious.
If a death was a conscious drowning, then the individual was awake, oriented to their surroundings and could likely move when they drowned. Exhaustion could cause this if an individual could not find the shore after entering open water.
The Yahara River is fairly narrow between its intersection with Lake Monona north of Bridge Drive and the West Broadway bridge. The entire stretch is likely no more than three to four car-lengths across, and most likely shallow enough to stand along the banks.
Between West Broadway and the US 18 Beltline Highway bridge, the river expands to around 100 meters across, give or take. This brief section of the Yahara is deep in the middle, and weedy on the edges. The river is more untamed below the Beltline where it feeds into Upper Mud Lake.
If a death was an unconscious drowning, then something happened to the individual to cause them to lose consciousness, at which point they became submerged and drowned.
This could be a lot of different things, maybe a specific medical emergency, maybe a blow to the head, could be the individual entering shock, or potentially even a concussion.
Whichever type of drowning, the county medical examiner should be able to determine if Freeman was injured between the time his vehicle crashed and the time he entered the water and eventually drowned.
Freeman was discovered in a lagoon that connects to the Yahara River just north of the Beltline bridge. Generally speaking, the eight-to-ten foot wide channel and roughly ice-rink sized pond at the end are shallow.
Between Saturday and Monday, if Freeman’s body had been present in the channel or pond, one of the employees at the many businesses surrounding the pond would surely have seen it.
On Monday, Wisconsin experienced some major thunderstorms and wind, which likely churned the water in the Yahara and the lagoon. In that kind of environment, it is not unlikely that debris was washed into the lagoon from the greater Yahara river, which flows North-South.
If Freeman’s body was lodged in a deeper section of the river out of sight, this could explain why he was not discovered until Monday afternoon.
Overall, the audio recordings of Saturday morning fill in much of the narrative. Based on reports from the pursuing officers, we know where the crash happened, the general area where the occupants of the vehicle escaped, and what police knew at the time of the search and immediately after.
However, a major hole persists. DCI officially stated that the vehicle “was of interest,” in relation to violent crimes reported in Madison. Never made clear are the crimes reported or how the vehicle is connected.
In addition, Officer 8512 was unable to fully recall the entire plate that he supposedly just ran, stating it was, “A-G-Y, I think.”
Clarification is needed regarding whether the plate did in fact show the officer information on a crime. Freeman, though he had charges pending, is not identified until far later in the night, apparently after the entire search was completed. They could not have known his charges at the time unless the vehicle belonged to him.
The only justification Officer 8512 supplied explaining why he engaged in the pursuit is that he saw a vehicle speed up in front of him occupied by “a couple of male blacks.”
July 6, 2020 Update:
