Marion County Coroner Follies Continue

The Marion County Coroner's tradition of operating the most incompetent coroner's office in the nation continues to live up to its low expectations. After rescue workers pulled a young male from a retention pond on Indianapolis' northeast side very close to the location where a 22-year old Avon man went missing after leaving a friend's apartment earlier this month, the family members of Joshua Swalls rushed to the scene fearing what they would learn. Chief Deputy Coroner Alfie Ballew publicly announced yesterday advised the family that the body found was not that of Swalls, after supposedly determining that the body pulled from the pond did not contain tattoos Swalls was known to have. Later today, Ballew issued another statement revising her earlier statement now confirming that the body was indeed Swalls. From the Star:

The family of missing Avon man Joshua Swalls has confirmed his was the body found in a Northeastside retention pond yesterday afternoon . . .

Earlier today, Marion County Coroner Chief Deputy Alfie Ballew told the Star at first the office did not believe the body was Swalls, 22, who had been missing since early November, but during the autopsy of the body, she said they found markings they thought might match up to tattoos Swalls had. By about noon today, the office was talking with the family.

Indianapolis fire crews pulled the body out of a retention pond near the Kroger store at 65th Street and Keystone Avenue at about 3:25 p.m. Friday. Officials had also searched the pond earlier this month after finding a shoe outside the fence of the pond and another shoe at Select Sewing Service, a business to the west of the pond . . .
 

Would the Indiana General Assembly please put forward an amendment to the Indiana Constitution to abolish this archaic coroner system we have and allow us to have competent medical examiners instead of incompetent political hacks conducting death investigations?