Duquesne University will give police file to mother of student who fell to his death
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Duquesne University will release the investigative file related to the 2018 death of student Marquis Jaylen Brown, whose mother has spent nearly a week on hunger strike in a push for an independent investigation.
Brown fell 16 stories from Brottier Hall on Oct. 4, 2018, after other students called 911 because Brown was “acting erratically,” police said at the time. University police and campus security arrived in his dorm room, and soon after he used a chair to break out a window and jumped out, authorities said.
Dannielle Brown has doubted that narrative from the start, and she has said she wants an independent investigation done through her own attorney, S. Lee Merritt.
Merritt and Duquesne officials released a joint statement Thursday indicating the two sides met this week.
“During that meeting, Duquesne shared details of its thorough investigation … with the family, including by having the individuals who conducted the investigation available to meet with the family and discuss the findings,” the statement read.
Dannielle Brown arrived in Pittsburgh last week and has been on hunger strike on Freedom Corner in the city’s Hill District. She had said she was pushing for the independent investigation.
“For that reason, in the interests of transparency, Duquesne University has offered to make available for in person review to Ms. Brown’s counsel and/or investigator its complete Duquesne University police file on this matter at a date to be arranged and to request that the City of Pittsburgh Police likewise share its entire file on the matter with her counsel and/or investigator,” according to the statement.
Pittsburgh Police also investigated Brown’s death. Pittsburgh Police did not immediately return a request for comment.
City police closed the case in February 2019 pending any new information.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Brown’s cause of death to be trauma from the fall. The manner was listed as undetermined.