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Officials speculate legitimacy of viral video depicting aftermath of body falling out of van in Ypsilanti

Posted at 8:14 AM, Oct 23, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-23 08:14:06-04

A viral video of a body falling out of a van in Ypsilanti has mystified both officials and citizens.

David Tackett, who recorded the incident, said a caravan cut across an intersection and hit a bump - the back hatch popped open and a body came out.

Tackett said the driver and a Good Samaritan were able to get the body back onto the stretcher and put it back in the truck.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office's Community Engagement Director Derrick Jackson said the incident came to the attention of officials through social media.

He said deputies weren't called to the scene, but they have received many calls wondering if the sheriff's office had any information on the incident.

Jakcson said he is not sure of the legitimacy of the video.

"The first thing I did was just call dispatch and have them go back through the calls," he said. "We didn't receive any calls on it."

Jackson said officials also checked on cases where there may have been a body in transit, but said they didn't have any cases.

"From a police service's perspective, really nothing," he said. "We didn't get any calls. All we saw was a video after the fact of some individuals putting a body back into a vehicle."

Jackson said it looks to be a legitimate transport and no crime was committed.

At this point, Jackson said there is really nothing law enforcement can do about the incident.

"Obviously, if people suspect that there was foul play or anything like that, definitely call. But at this point, we just have a viral video."

Tackett, who witnessed the incident, said there is no real way of knowing whether it is real or fake.

"If that was your loved one out there, you definitely need to know what happened," he said.

Jackson warned about taking things you see on social media at face value.

"This could have just been a very unfortunate incident, right. Something happened with the vehicle, it wasn't locked," he said.