The sister of the Southeast D.C. man who died in an apparent suicide after being chased by federal agents said she is becoming increasingly frustrated with the Virginia Medical Examiner’s office’s failure to deliver an autopsy report.
Tonya Kirby, sister of Travis Lamar Hampton, has been seeking answers on her brother’s death since July 5, the day Hampton sideswiped three Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents in an unmarked car during rush hour on Interstate 395 in Arlington.
“I realize he’s one in a million cases,” she said. “But I don’t feel like [the medical examiner’s office] thinks he a good person. I feel like they think he’s a menace to society that been exterminated.”
According to the official account of what happened, Hampton sideswiped the agents, who were in the area for training before being deployed to Iraq. The agents then chased Hampton to the Glebe Road exit where they exchanged gunfire with Hampton, setting off a gun battle that ended on the 3200 block of 13th Street in Arlington. Here, Hampton engaged in a standoff with Arlington and Alexandria police before taking his own life.
Law enforcement officials have never released ballistics reports on or pictures of the gun allegedly used by Hampton to commit suicide. Arlington police are conducting the investigation into the incident, and will release their report to the commonwealth attorney once it is complete, police spokesman John Lisle said.
Pictures of the car driven by Hampton in the chase show numerous bullet holes and what appears to be blood on the steering wheel and windshield. Also, The Examiner learned that Hampton’s body showed signs of other injuries not consistent with a gunshot wound to the head, which is listed as the cause of death on the death certificate. The Examiner also reported that the agents apparently violated federal law enforcement training guidelines for high-speed car chases.
Hampton has no history of violent crime. He served 30 days in prison for marijuana possession in 2002.
Kirby believes the autopsy report will clear up questions she has about her brother’s death. However, she said the medical examiner’s office is improperly denying her the right to request the report, and has misled her in what is necessary to do so.
According to e-mails obtained by The Examiner, Kirby contacted Virginia Medical Examiner spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell in late October telling her to contact the medical examiner’s Fairfax office. Kirby said this office would make the information available to her.
Kirby then contacted the Fairfax office, where she was told that she did not qualify as next of kin, and that her father or mother — who both live in Virginia — must make the request in writing. Kirby lives in South Carolina.
According to Virginia state code, siblings over 18 years of age, as well as parents, are considered next of kin. When asked why Kirby did not qualify, Caldwell said she would not immediately be able to provide an answer, as Friday was a state holiday. Calls to the Fairfax medical examiner’s officer were not returned.
Kirby said she was not informed of the proper procedure until she made the formal autopsy request. “This would have eliminated some unnecessary delay in us receiving the information,” she said in an e-mail. She said she was told “that some people do not wish to have such information sent to them. And I said — even if there were unexplained circumstances? And she said that this wasthe standard ‘procedure.’ ”
