Officials in Virginia say a 19-year-old woman died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the face while her hands were cuffed behind her back.
Sarah Wilson was handcuffed during a traffic stop in Chesapeake, Virginia, on July 25, 2018, when she took a gun out of her boyfriend’s car, "contorted" her body, and shot her self, Chesapeake Police Spokesman Leo Kosinski told WAVY in August 2018.
On Friday, after an official investigation into the incident, Virginia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed to WAVY that Wilson committed suicide and died from an "intra-oral gunshot wound."
At the time of Wilson's death, Kosinski said that one officer involved in the traffic stop was wearing a body camera but it had been knocked offline.
Wilson and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Holden Medlin, had been under the surveillance of a patrol officer and a vice narcotics officer with the Chesapeake Police before the traffic stop.
Once they were pulled over, Medlin tried to flee the scene, so officers left a handcuffed Wilson by the passenger side of her boyfriend's vehicle while they tried to subdue Medlin by tasing him.
It was then that Wilson got a gun out of her boyfriend's vehicle and shot her self, police said.
The officer who was wearing a body cam said the camera went offline "during the struggle" with Medlin, ABC 13 reported at the time.
Medlin was arrested in connection to the stop after he swallowed a golf ball-sized bag filled with an unknown substance, police said.
Officers found oxycodone, a syringe, drug paraphernalia, a rifle and ammunition in Medlin's car.
He was charged possession of oxycodone, possession of suboxone, possession of paraphernalia, possession of a firearm with a schedule I or II drug, fleeing from a law-enforcement officer, and possessing a firearm as a felon.
Join the conversation about this story »
NOW WATCH: This dog is conquering Brooklyn's costume competitions
