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Bodycam video shows police didn't leave car during search for dying teenager Kyle Plush

Body of boy, 16, was later found by his father

Alina Polianskaya
Saturday 21 April 2018 14:05 BST
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Bodycam footage shows police never exited their car searching for Kyle Plush

Newly released footage appears to show Ohio police officers, sent to look for a trapped and dying teenager, did not get out of their patrol car and terminated the search after around three minutes.

Kyle Plush, 16, from Ohio had made desperate 911 calls for help after becoming stuck in the back of the Honda Odyssey minivan.

He was later found dead by his father after police failed to find him.

Despite police reports claiming they were on the scene for 11 minutes, bodycam footage shows officers driving around the car park for around three minutes before claiming they can't find anything, and getting set to leave.

At one point a police officer is heard saying “I don’t see nobody, which I didn’t imagine I would.”

Just over a minute later, not having found Kyle, he says “I’m gonna shut this off,” as music appears to play in the background.

US media report that the footage comes from the body cameras of Cincinnati officers Edsel Osborne and Brian Brazile.

Kyle had become trapped in the back of his van after leaning over the back seat to try and retrieve tennis equipment.

The back seat reportedly flipped up and trapped him, compressing his chest and making it difficult for him to breathe.

In his desperate calls to 911, the boy is heard saying “I’m stuck in my van outside the Seven Hills parking lot.

“Send help. I’m gonna die here.”

The dispatcher asks him: “Where are you”.

In a second call, Kyle tells the operator: “I probably don’t have much time left so tell my mum I love her if I die.

“This is not a joke.

“Send officers immediately. I’m almost dead.”

He also described his car in more detail and explained which car park he was in.

The operator reportedly later claimed that something went wrong during the second call so Kyle was not heard properly.

Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Kyle died after suffocating from the weight of his seat, according to Hamilton County Coroner’s Court.

His father found Kyle’s body at around 9pm that evening (10 April), around 6 hours after Kyle first called for help.

Police documents reportedly state that officers were on the scene for around 11 minutes, but it appears that the police bodycams were only active for around three minutes. The cameras are supposed to be switched on when police arrive at a call.

An internal investigation is being carried out by the police department.

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