Owasso PD Tried to “Head Off” National Scrutiny Over Nex Benedict

Mainstream media nearly fell for it, but the efforts of independent reporters who pressed police for answers have changed the narrative.

by Evan Urquhart

The sudden death of Oklahoma 16-year-old Nex Benedict may well have been caused by injuries he sustained during a fight in the girls bathroom at Owasso High School. 

On February 27 Lt. Nick Boatman, an Owasso police spokesperson, admitted to a reporter for NBC that an official statement where police claimed Nex’s death was not “a result of trauma” should not be interpreted as saying there was no link between the death and Nex’s injuries.

This was not the first time Boatman had walked back the earlier police statement, but it was the first time he did so to a major news outlet. Both Judd Legum of Popular Information and Marisa Kabas of the Handbasket had previously pressed Owasso police to clarify their vaguely worded statement, which was unusual in that it released partial, preliminary information about an ongoing criminal investigation.

Legum’s reporting was particularly concerning. In a story published four days prior to NBC’s, on February 23, Lt. Boatman is quoted explaining to Legum how Owasso police “reached out to the medical examiner's office to try to head off some of this national scrutiny.” He went on to say that the medical examiner had not “explicitly” said that Nex’s death was unrelated to his injuries, but that that was how he, Boatman, had interpreted it.

screenshot from Popular Information

This version differs significantly from the comments Boatman made to NBC four days later. In that story, he’s quoted saying that police did not interpret the medical examiner’s finding that way and blamed the media and the public for any misunderstandings about the official police statement.

From NBC Out’s Jo Yurcaba:

We did not interpret that in any way,” he said of the word “trauma,” which he said was used by the medical examiner’s office. He said that the medical examiner’s office didn’t say it had ruled out the fight as causing or contributing to Benedict’s death and that “people shouldn’t make assumptions either way.”

Supplemental reporting on the odd behavior by Owasso police can also be found in two stories by Marisa Kabas of the Handbasket from February 23 and 26. In the first story, Kabas wrote about communicating via email with Don Yancy, Chief of the Owasso PD. On the 23rd, Yancy declined to clear up the confusion over the statement when given the opportunity, instead telling Kabas, “We suspect what happen [sic] but unfortunately I can’t release what happen until the tox and other test results come back, sorry.”

After reading Legum’s reporting in Popular Information, Kabas then attempted to follow up with Lt. Boatman, resulting in a phone call with him. In that conversation, Boatman seemed not to understand when he was and wasn’t on the record when speaking to reporters, and hung up on Kabas when she made it clear their conversation would be considered on the record.

screenshot from the Handbasket

While this reporting attempting to clarify the police statement was going on, a large number of mainstream outlets included references to the initial Owasso PD statement, seemingly without having followed up with Owasso PD to clarify its meaning. Outlets including the New York Times, the Oklahoman, and NBC themselves (prior to their February 27 story) quoted the police statement directly, but did not include any mention of speaking directly with police to clarify it.

Some outlets, most notably the Associated Press, went further, incorrectly summarizing the police statement as saying Nex’s death was unrelated to his injuries from the fight. This is the exact assumption Lt. Boatman now claims was unwarranted.

screenshot from the Associated Press

On the right, some outlets have ignored the story completely, most notably Fox News, where multiple variations of search terms relating to Owasso, Benedict, and Oklahoma failed to turn up a single reference to this incident. Others, such as the Daily Wire, have stories centering the misleading Owasso PD statement.

The practice of asking police departments to clarify official statements, particularly when such statements are vaguely worded and issued under unusual circumstances, would normally be considered part of standard journalistic procedure.