The death of a 15-year-old boy who died in a fire sparked by members of the Albuquerque Police Department over the summer has been ruled a homicide by medical examiners. Experts said in the recently released autopsy the young man was alive and trapped in the house after it caught on fire.
The announcement came from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, stating that Brett Rosenau died from inhalation of soot in his lungs, high levels of carbon monoxide in his system, and burns that covered 95 percent of his body in the July 7 fire.
The autopsy also said another contributing factor was the “toxic effects of cocaine,” but the level of the drug in the teen’s system was very low. “Given the circumstances, cocaine could have both impaired decision-making and increased the body’s need for oxygen, contributing to the cause of death,” the report said.
The homicide ruling considered the circumstances surrounding the fire. An investigation conducted by the Albuquerque Fire Rescue department determined the police accidentally started the fire when they were trying to detain Qiaunt Kelley, 27, on a parole violation warrant for Kelley, who was also suspected in armed carjacking and stolen vehicle incidents in Albuquerque.
Albuquerque outlet The Paper., which has reported extensively on the Rosenau case, describes a lengthy timeline of the day’s events leading to the teen’s death as beginning early in the afternoon of July 6 when Albuquerque Police detectives staked out a home on San Joaquin Avenue in southeast Albuquerque in search of Kelley, who apparently was known to frequent the residence.
Around 5 p.m. that day the detectives caught sight of a man they identified as Kelley in the front yard of the house. The fugitive Kelley was known by authorities to flee cops to avoid detention, and other police personnel were stationed nearby when two detectives approached him.
Police reports say when Kelley confronted by the two detectives and ordered to surrender he fled toward the back of the home. It was there that other officers found him alongside Rosenau, who was not a target of the warrant. At this point the police drew their guns on Kelley and Rosenau, who apparently were associates, and the pair retreated behind a door the police variously describe as part of the house or a shed adjacent to it.
Police documents obtained by The Paper. describe how the scene of the apprehension turned into a hours-long standoff after residents of the home now surrounded by police quickly came out and were detained as Kelley and Rosenau took refuge inside.
The next few hours saw a series of attempts at negotiation and coercion as the assembled force of multiple agencies grew and tried talking the pair out and gassing them out, the latter of which eventually led to the fire that took Rosenau’s life.
Taylor Smith, an attorney for the Rosenau family, “That’s exactly what happened that night. We believe and on behalf of our clients believe this was totally avoidable and APD killed Brett Rosenau.”
An APD representative pointed out it’s not the legal or criminal law definition of homicide, according to KOB4.
The CDC’s medical examiner’s handbook defines a Homicide as “when a death results from a willing act by another person to cause fear, harm, or death.” Now a legal team will have to determine if the family is the officer that started the fire intended to cause “fear, harm, or death.”
A Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputy, who worked with APD’s SWAT team, said the standoff lasted for hours. But witnesses sai authorities waited for 40 minutes to extinguish the fire that started sometime after midnight after pepper spray canister tossed into the home landed on a mattress.
Kelley was able to get out and surrender to authorities, but not Rosenau, whose body was found in a bathroom.
Witnesses also told reporters that first responders left the boy’s body in front of the house for a while before removing him.
The teen’s family’s thoughts on the autopsy and an upcoming lawsuit were relayed by their lawyer.
Smith said, “This is just part of them going through the process of understanding what really happened and so it is incredibly tragic and dark and paints a grim picture of how Mr. Rosenau died.”
“Our position is this is completely avoidable, and we intend to pursue a wrongful death suit,” she concluded.
“The release of Brett Rosenau’s autopsy is a heartbreaking confirmation of what we already knew, this was yet another avoidable death of a Black child at the hands of law enforcement. Brett’s loved ones deserve justice, and our community must be assured that those responsible for his death will be held accountable,” the ACLU said regarding the report.
Adding, “Brett’s preventable death is yet another tragic example of an extremely deadly year for law enforcement in our state. His death speaks to the urgent need for comprehensive statewide use of force and munitions policies in New Mexico.”
Kelley, who also was burned that day, is being held on multiple charges.