MADISON — An autopsy Thursday morning on a man who died while in the custody of the Norfolk Police Division was thorough, according to Madison County Attorney Joe Smith.
Smith attended the autopsy of Andre Larone Murphy Sr. in Omaha.
“There was no major kind of trauma to any organ, including the heart or the brain. We have received some toxicology reports back from the hospital already,” Smith said.
Murphy died at Faith Regional Health Services following what was described by Smith as a struggle with a Norfolk police officer Wednesday morning.
Smith declined to comment any further on the autopsy or the toxicology reports, but he said the information would be made public soon.
“Within a month. We’re going to the grand jury within a month, basically,” Smith said.
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During a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Smith had mentioned that a series of 911 calls had brought a Norfolk police officer to the Super 8 motel at about 6:50 a.m. A check of the police blotter posted on the City of Norfolk’s website showed only one call for service to the motel on Wednesday morning. The nature of the call was coded as a disturbance.
“I think there were two calls. They might have come in at the same time,” Smith said.
The Norfolk Police Division declined to comment on anything related to the Wednesday incident and directed all inquiries to the Madison County attorney’s office.
Smith said he didn’t know whether the officer involved in the struggle with Murphy had been put on leave.
“Based on what I’ve seen so far, it would surprise me if he was put on leave related to this. The reason there’s a grand jury is because there’s a death, not because there’s any accusations against anybody. ... This is being treated like a homicide because of the state statute, which is a good statute. It protects everybody,” Smith said.
Andre Larone Murphy Sr.
