All I can say is that the neck is part of the spine. I don’t know what distinction a doctor would make between a broken neck and a severed spine. When the neck breaks it severs the spinal cord AFAIK. That will result in death or paralysis. The full autopsy should settle it.
It is a part of the spine, I agree. Maybe it’s an error of thought on my part, but when I read that he died of major injuries to his spine, I thought how the heck is someone’s spine going to be injured to that extent in an arrest? (meaning his backbone, not his neck).
I was thinking did they do some atomic back breaker move on the guy? Some horrific beating that caused such injuries.
So maybe I am just stupid for thinking along those lines.
But when it became clearer to me that these injuries were in his neck, then it starts to make more sense how this could occur.
Police could break his neck for sure if they got rough enough I think. That is possible. At the same time it is also possible for him to break his own neck. The neck is fairly fragile, much less sturdy than the lower spine I would think.
Could some sort of fall in the van have caused that, especially if it was a fall related to him hurling himself around? Yes I think so, it’s possible.
Cameras in these vans and cop cars for that matter would be really helpful too.
But yes, a full autopsy, that would be really helpful in answering a lot of questions. Hopefully soon...
No, the spine is part of the neck. Its the the other way around and it is really, really important. Thank God it is the other way around. Your spine is encircled by your vertebra (your neck and back bones).
You can potentially hurt your spine without breaking vertebra.
You can easily break vertebra without severing your spine. My father did just that when I was a child. Imaging was not what it is now, and with the amount of damage he had, the doctors could not believe that he had not damaged his spine, but he hadn’t. They thought they just couldn’t see it, but his spine was fine “Just” his vertebra, legs, feet, ribs, and arms were broken.
He was lucky to be alive and lost height and shoe sizes from the bone fragments he lost and the way he healed.
But his spine was fine.
http://www.shepherd.org/patient-programs/spinal-cord-injury/about
You can break the bony part of your neck without injury to the spinal CORD. Injury to that is what can kill you.