Private autopsy raises questions about death Mississippi college football player

By Andrew Hay

July 22 (Reuters) - A private autopsy of Nolan Wells, a Black college football player whose body was found in the ocean near an island off the Mississippi coast, raised questions about the cause of his death, a family lawyer said on Wednesday.

The pathologist who conducted the private autopsy “cannot rule out foul play” without more information, said civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.  

The private autopsy requested information about Wells' neck and head from the initial autopsy conducted by the Mississippi medical examiner, Crump told a press conference during the NAACP's National Convention in Chicago.

Wells' body was found fully clothed and face down on the island on July 6. He had traveled there over the Fourth of July weekend with three white friends who returned to the mainland without him, Crump said.

The death has drawn national attention over unanswered questions surrounding his final hours and concerns that deaths of young Black Americans do not receive adequate scrutiny.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Kat Stafford and David Gregorio)