"Man found in river was drunk, police say
A Massachusetts man found dead in a Providence river was “highly intoxicated’’ when he was last seen leaving a city bar, and there is no evidence to suggest he had been involved in a fight, police said. But the family of Gregory Hart, 23, of Dedham said he had injuries that prove he was murdered and have upped the reward in the case to $70,000. The family said Hart had a broken jaw, broken eye socket, and other injuries. The medical examiner determined that Hart drowned. The family has been critical of the way police have handled the case. Hart was last seen leaving a bar on March 14, and his body was found in the Woonasquatucket River two days later. (AP)."
He was drunk, case closed.
Or is it?
"Family vows to discover how Dedham man died; Dispute account by police; raising funds to study case" by Michele Morgan Bolton, Globe Correspondent | April 13, 2010
The family of a Dedham man found dead in a Providence river on March 16, after disappearing two days before, will hold a fund-raising event Friday to help prove their assertion he had been beaten and killed — and then dumped in the storm-swollen waters shortly before he was found partially submerged close to shore.
The family’s contentions are contrary to initial conclusions by Rhode Island police and a medical examiner that a drunken fall led to the death of Gregory Hart by drowning.
Police say he tumbled into the water after a night of drinking at the Red Room bar....
In an interview, family members said they took Hart’s iPhone to Apple technicians after Providence police returned it to them last week in seven pieces.
Victoria Hart, the victim’s sister, said experts told her the phone had been deliberately destroyed. She said she was told it would have also shut down as soon as it was submerged. According to Apple’s records, she said, the phone turned off at 10:30 a.m. March 16, the same day Hart’s body was found.
“That means he was only in the river for three hours,’’ she said.
John Hart said his son’s body was not bloated and disfigured and did not appear as if it had been in the water for 48 hours.
“I recovered my son,’’ he said. “I saw him. Only the tips of his fingers were wrinkly, like when you are in the shower for a long time.’’
But Gregory’s face, his father said, was another story. John Hart again vehemently rejected the contention that the injuries were caused after his son drowned. He also said he is incensed by a statement by Providence police that his son’s time of death is irrelevant.
“That’s the biggest insult of all,’’ he said. “I saw him. He was clearly punched in the eye socket, there was a slit of 3 or 4 inches on his palm, and every knuckle was split.’’
Gregory Hart also suffered a broken jaw, officials said.
John Hart and his family believe Gregory, 23, got into a fight at the police-owned “dive bar’’ where he had gone on March 14 with friends. It was the last place he had been seen.
Whether the altercation was with those friends after a disagreement or with the club’s employees is not known, he said.
In either case, John Hart said, someone knows something they are not saying.
The cops covering up another murder.
Gregory Hart was an experienced diver who knew his way around the water, his father said: “He didn’t just slip down a slope.’’
But he was drunk.
Friday’s event will be held from 7 p.m. to midnight at the Norwood Elks Lodge. Money raised would be used to hire a lawyer to investigate the case, the family said.
--more--"So how is that investigation going?
