It has been reported that a Hamilton County Deputy found the van that 17 year old Kyle Plush was trapped inside but did not see the boy. Those are reports that Chief Deputy Mark Schoonover says are "completely inaccurate".
Schoonover tells Newsradio 700WLW that his deputy was working an off duty detail at the time and took it upon himself to begin a search of the school parking lots on foot. Two Cincinnati police officers were dispatched to Seven Hills School to check out the report of someone trapped in a van and they patrolled the parking lots in their cruiser and left after ten minutes. The deputy continued to walk the lot and look in cars after CPD left the scene but Schoonover says the deputy never came upon the Plush van as Cincinnati Chief Elliot Isaac suggested in a news conference.
The Cincinnati Police Department is conducting an internal review of the death of the sophomore at Seven Hills that will cover both the police response and how his calls to 911 were handled. The dispatcher who received the second call from the teen has been removed from duty. On that call, Plush relayed specific information about his van and where he was located but that information was never relayed from the dispatcher to police.
The first call from Plush came in right after school but he was not found until later that night. He became trapped in the back of his van when the rear seat flipped as he was trying to get tennis equipment from the rear of the vehicle. The Hamilton County Coroner says he died of Asphyxia caused by chest compression.