Two days after asking the public’s help to catch a cop killer, Prince George’s County officials were asking the public’s indulgence as they investigate how the suspect in that case died in their care.

Ronnie L. White was found sitting on the floor of his cell late Sunday morning, slumped against his bunk and unresponsive. He had been charged with first-degree murder in the ramming death of veteran Prince George’s officer Richard Findley. Now his own death is the subject of an investigation.

County officials said Sunday they had no indication of how White, 19, died. There were no visible signs of suicide or violence, and he had been responsive just 15 minutes before he was found on the floor by guards bringing him his lunch. White had cordial exchanges with his warders and hadn’t complained of being abused or feeling ill or suicidal, jail Col. Greg Harris told the media Sunday.

“Honestly, I don’t see any foul play,” Harris said. “Obviously, this is the last thing we wanted.”

This story continues below
Advertisement

White was accused of being behind the wheel of a stolen Chevy pickup truck that crushed Findley as he and other officers closed in to make an arrest at a Laurel shopping center late Friday morning.

White was one of several people taken into custody Friday afternoon by Prince George’s County sheriff’s deputies, who were in the area, heard of Findley’s death and came to help.

The deputies pursued men they saw sprinting into an apartment complex, and located at least four men in an apartment — two of them sweating and out of breath. All four men were arrested after a search uncovered drugs and a rifle.

White, the only one charged in connection with Findley’s death, was taken to the county jail early Saturday and put into isolation almost immediately, Harris said.

His death raises disturbing questions for a police department that has only recently emerged from a Justice Department consent decree because of a history of brutality, said Johnny Barnes of the D.C. region American Civil Liberties Union.

“It seems to me the police department would want someone not associated with them to take a hard look at the death, just to make sure,” Barnes said. “We all know that police officers have a strong bond — as they should — and when one of their own is killed in the line of duty, they take it personally — as they should.”

Findley is the second officer in three years to be killed in the line of duty. His friend and mentor, Steven Gaughan, was killed in a gunbattle a few blocks from where Findley died.

bmyers@dcexaminer.com