Please consider coming along side our family as we start an aggressive campaign demanding an outside investigation into Davids death.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/truth-justice-for-david-scott-elmquist?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer 

On February 9th, it will be four years since David Elmquist died in a tragic apartment fire.  On that afternoon, David went home to visit with his parents about his eleven month marriage. He said it was toxic, that his wife manipulated everything, and that he wanted to get a divorce. He had plans to move home the very next day. David's mother asked him, “What would happen if you went home to talk to your wife about this?” He responded, “She’d go ballistic!” Eight hours after making that statement, my son, who had never been violent or suicidal, decided -if you believe the official reports - to take his life by fire. Self-immolation is one of the rarest forms of suicide.

When police arrived on scene, they were never told by the witness to "go! save David," instead they were told he "had knives and might be dangerous."  The police then told the firemen to "stand down" and to not go inside to rescue David. David had been extinguished by a maintenance worker shortly after the smoke alarms went off. For 39 long, lifesaving minutes, after the 911 call first went in, help stood outside of David's door merely calling his name. Then, after the Police shot the windows out to clear some smoke, David mustered up all the energy he had left, stumbled out of his apartment on his own volition. David was burned on over 90% of his body, mostly blind and was struggling to breath; he collapsed and was brought to the hospital. 

There are many troubling things about the events surrounding David's death aside from stating he wanted a divorce and then was on fire 8 hours later.

1. The Protected Areas.

David could have never randomly poured an accelerant (Bakken crude oil) over the top of his head, covering his entire body, as their star witness has testified, and then somehow end up with TWO distinct protected areas ONLY on the inside of BOTH wrists. We believe this protected area identifies were David was standing at the time of ignition. The Hennepin County Medical Examiners Office failed basic pathologist standards set forth by the College of American Pathologist, making absolutely NO notations about these obvious “protected areas” on David’s wrists in the autopsy report. And when brought to his attention by David's father, instead of doing further research, the medical examiner offered a glib explanation, stating, “he must have been wearing gloves.”

2. The Missing Lighter

The eye witness stated in an audio recording that she "saw that David had a lighter, and that she wrestled with him to get the lighter" ... But this lighter was never found. How, in such a small area, does a person light themself on fire and yet no lighter is ever found? No remnants. Nothing. Coincidentally, months after David's death, when interviewed and asked "Do you know what happened to the lighter?" Ms. X states "my mom found it on the floor over by the kitchen table, she picked it up and put it by the stove." Although numerous photos were taken of the apartment, the lighter was never seen or found. 

3. The Planted Knife. 

Numerous photos of a clean, pristine knife, laying on the floor near where David was sitting, were taken. We believe that the Plymouth Police Department planted a knife to make it look like David was a threat to the officers, thereby justifying not allowing the fire and rescue people to attempt to save his life. There can be no other explanation. There were no flesh, debris or bodily fluids on this knife. Given the condition of David's hands, there is no way he could have held on to that knife.  Furthermore, in a photo of the knife block, you can clearly see that the knife was moved after soot was deposited. Meaning, the knife was moved after the fire. The Plymouth Police are the only ones who had access to the apartment immediately after the fire and they are the only ones who had the motive to do such a thing. There is no doubt in our minds that these actions by the Plymouth Police Department obstructed justice. And then 32 months after David's tragic death, when our family was finally given the police report, they had changed their statement on the knife and said "We believe it played no role in the events of this night." 

4. The door was never locked.

The eyewitness stated that "David pushed her out of the apartment and locked the door." A locked door, proceeded by a fire taking place would support a suicide attempt. However, the door was never locked. An interview with the maintenance man who extinguished David, stated "he did not have keys on him to the apartment, when he arrived the door was unlocked and open."
If the police report does not say anything about the door being locked, where do Bird, Lopez, and Harris come up with such information? Clearly, it was not reflected in the police report. We believe this is just one of many falsehoods put forth by all three of these highly trained professionals to support their narrative of suicide.

 

5. David's Mental State 

David had recently experienced a mental breakdown and had spent time in the hospital, diagnosed with an acute non specific psychosis episode. They were not sure what had caused this, they speculated drugs - but none were found in David's system. David was discharged on a mood stabilizing medication and was discharged, expected to make a complete recovery. 

On the night of David's death, the police took photos of David's recent hospital records. To them, this was simply "a crazy man who lit himself on fire" and at that moment, David lost any chance of a fair and honest investigation. Mental health discrimination is prevalent in society and played a part in David not getting a fair and thorough investigation. 

Based upon just these points alone, I hope you agree that David’s case needs and deserves a legitimate full-on investigation.  We need a prosecutor who is a zealot for justice, and is not simply interested in protecting police from criminal charges. The evidence of the protected area on David’s wrists, the missing lighter, the planted knife, and the false information about the door being locked, are all but a very, very, small sample of what we believe has been a cover up of misconduct by police.  

 

Please join our fight for truth and justice and sign the petition to have an independent prosecutor appointed to the case. Nothing changes unless we take action. Thank you for your time. God bless you!