Family attorney sheds light on Ellingson drowning

Little official information has been released concerning exactly what happened to 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson.

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Ellingson went overboard while handcuffed under the care of Missouri State Highway Patrol, but a photo taken by a friend of Ellingson sheds new light on what happened moments before he went overboard.

The photo shows Ellingson sitting in a Missouri State Patrol Boat May 31 just as he was being taken into custody.

It is clear in the photo that there is a life jacket on the left side of the boat just in front of the 20-year-old, which is a Type 1 life jacket.

He took Brandon into custody. He handcuffed Brandon first and then he put a Type 3 life preserver on over the top of Brandon, said Matthew Boles, attorney for the Ellingson family.

Boles said the officer should have used a Type 1 life preserver, which would have gone around Ellingsons neck and tied around his body.

Boles said the officer had two of them on the boat and chose not to use those.

A Type 3 life preserver is like a vest, and needs the user to have both hands free to put it on, but Ellingson was handcuffed.

Boles would not speculate on charges, but he did say who is to blame for Ellingsons death.

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Family attorney sheds light on Ellingson drowning