New Evidence Uncovered In Largey Death

New evidence was released this week which supports charges of police brutality in the jail cell death of East Cambridge youth Lawrence P. Largey.

A second autopsy on the 17-year-old's body showed "conclusive evidence of injuries to the head" which had caused the formation of several possibly fatal hematomas, or blood deposits, beneath the scalp and around the brain.

The new autopsy which was conducted by Dr. David Spain, the pathologist who performed a second autopsy on slain Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, was ordered by the Largey family after eyewitnesses to the youth's arrest cast doubt on the verdict of the official state post mortem.

The state medical examiner, Dr. Charles R. Robinson, had said that there was "absolutely no evidence" that the death was "caused by physical injuries." Robinson concluded that Largey's death was the result of an overdose of alcohol and barbiturates.

In the new autopsy, Largey's lawyers said that Spain found no evidence of barbiturates in the boy's body. The lawyers said, however, that the five-day time lapse between Largey's death and Spain's autopsy may have prevented proper diagnosis.

The result of both autopsies will be submitted as evidence in the Middlesex District Attorney's inquest into the circumstances surrounding Largey's death. If the inquest finds sufficient evidence that police brutality may have caused the boy's death, the state will begin criminal proceedings possibly leading to an indictment of several policemen for murder.