Handcuffed woman finds a way to kill herself during traffic stop, VA police say

Virginia police say a handcuffed woman managed to access a gun and shoot herself in an apparent suicide during a traffic stop, according to local reports.

Chesapeake Police stopped a car driven by 27-year-old Holden Medlin and in which 19-year-old Sarah Wilson was a passenger on July 25, according to The Virginian-Pilot and other media.

Police said Medlin was disorderly and uncooperative during the stop, prompting them to use a stun gun, The Pilot reported.

While police tended to Medlin, Wilson obtained a gun that did not belong to police and shot herself, television station WAVY reported.

Police on Wednesday said Wilson was in handcuffs at the time she committed suicide, according to WAVY.

Police said they had probable cause to stop the car, according to a Pilot report.

Few other details have been made public. But Wilson’s mother, Dawn, said an investigator told her that her daughter “managed to put a revolver in her mouth while handcuffed,” according to an ABC13 report.

“I’m not pointing fingers. I don’t know what happened — I wasn’t there,” Dawn Wilson told ABC13. “But I need to know, and I think that’s fair. I’m her mom.”

Police said there was officer-worn camera footage from the traffic stop but that it was “kicked offline” at the time the gun was fired, the WAVY report said.

Medlin was charged with felonies for drug possession, possession of a firearm by a felon, and possession of a firearm along with drugs, according to Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office inmate records.

He was being held without bond with a next court appearance set for Aug. 13.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 1:40 PM.