The family of a Staunton man who died in the back of an Augusta County Sheriff’s Office patrol car on May 5 is trying to get answers.
“There is real injustice here, and I truly feel like Stefan was assaulted to the point of his death,” Wade Gerencser, the brother of Stefan Gerencser, 39, wrote on social media, in a post brought to our attention by a family friend, Gary Bone, who served in the Marine Corps with the Gerencser brothers.
ICYMI
According to our initial reporting on the matter, Stefan Gerencser was the subject of a call from Sheetz in Fishersville at 3:37 a.m. on the morning of Monday, May 5, where he was allegedly refusing to leave the property, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
After speaking with deputies, according to the sheriff’s office, he agreed to leave the property and did so without incident.
One hour later, at 4:33 a.m., Gerencser himself placed a 911 call requesting medical assistance. Emergency services, including fire and rescue personnel and deputies, responded to the scene. The sheriff’s office did not disclose the location of the scene in its report to the local media.
Gerencser initially declined medical treatment at that time and refused to be transported to the hospital by rescue personnel, but reportedly later agreed to be transported to Augusta Health by deputies.
Upon arrival, though, he refused to remain at the hospital for treatment, again according to the sheriff’s office, and at 5:18 a.m., Gerencser was arrested for public intoxication while still on grounds at Augusta Health.
During the arrest, he initially refused to enter the patrol vehicle and assaulted a deputy, according to the sheriff’s office, which reported that a “brief struggle” ensued before the deputy and Augusta Health security were able to secure him in the vehicle.
No further details on the “brief struggle” were provided.
From there, Gerencser was taken to Middle River Regional Jail, arriving at the jail at 5:45 a.m., and when the arresting deputy attempted to remove him from the vehicle, Gerencser was unresponsive and not breathing.
Jail staff initiated life-saving measures, according to the sheriff’s office, but despite their efforts, they were unsuccessful.
ICYMI
What happened between the “brief struggle” in the 5:18 a.m. incident and the short drive via Interstate 64 and Interstate 81 to the jail that ended with Gerencser being found unresponsive and not breathing in the back of the patrol car at 5:45 a.m.?
“He was a handicapped, mentally ill patient at a Sheetz at 3:30 in the morning. And in handcuffs and under custody, he dies in the back of the squad car at the police station. All I want is for people to read this message and maybe gain some insight or help out, but something is awry,” Wade Gerencser wrote in his social media post, which details his efforts to find out something, anything, about what happened to his brother.
“It is unbelievable the amount of work and the amount of hours, literally hours, I spent on the phone, having to call the police department back to get some form of information, which ultimately resulted me calling another number to leave another voicemail again,” Wade Gerencser wrote.
Bone, on behalf of his Marine Corps buddies, asked AFP if we could help, and we’re trying, though we’re not getting anywhere with this, either.
AFP staff writer Crystal Graham reached out to the sheriff’s office, where Leslie Snyder, the administrative lieutenant, told us that we would need “to reach out to the Virginia State Police. The case has been turned over to them.”
Following that direction, we reached out next to Matthew Demlein, the public-relations coordinator for the Virginia State Police, whose answer back to us was, “(w)e cannot provide any additional comment, as this continues to be an open and active investigation.”
We also tried the Office of the State Medical Examiner, eliciting a response from Keshia Singleton, an administrative deputy there, telling us that our request for information on the Gerencser “is prohibited by law.”
One last try at this: Augusta Health.
“Due to patient privacy laws, we are prohibited from commenting,” Kristen Printy, the public-relations manager at Augusta Health, wrote back by email. “However, to ensure clarity, please note that the security officers are not Augusta Health employees, as they are all contracted through a third-party vendor.
“Additionally, it is our understanding that there is no Virginia State Police investigation regarding any security personnel who provide contracted services at or for Augusta Health,” Printy wrote.
All we can say here is, we’re going to keep at it.
The family of Stefan Gerencser is owed the truth as to what happened in the back of that patrol car.
It’s been, at this writing, 10 days since Stefan Gerencser died.
It’s understandable that it might take some time to process the details, but the initial reports seemed pretty straightforward, so it’s also understandable that there’d be frustration on the part of his loved ones that they’re getting literally nothing from officialdom.
“If the circumstances were so cut and dry, we don’t understand why the investigation is taking so long, and why body cam footage is not available,” Bone wrote to us.
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Chris Graham
