PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) _ State and federal authorities will monitor the investigation into the death of a black man found hanging from a tree in the Southern California city of Palmdale, officials said Monday following large weekend protests.
The county medical examiner-coroner’s office said the 24-year-old man appeared to have died by suicide, prompting an outcry by his family who believed he wasn’t suicidal and community members who called for an independent investigation and autopsy.
The state attorney general’s office and the FBI’s Civil Rights Division will oversee the investigation, which is being led by the Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide bureau, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.
The death of Harsh, a 38-year-old black man who was found hanging from a tree on May 31 in Victorville, a desert city about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Palmdale, came to light after Fuller’s case.
The city has issued a statement supporting an independent inquiry, and three elected officials _ county Supervisor Kathryn Barger, state Sen. Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita and Assemblyman Tom Lackey of Palmdale _ urged California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the probe.
