Depts. clash on cause of Scott's death

CHICAGO, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Two Chicago public offices have clashed, providing opposing reasons for the cause of death of school board President Michael Scott.

Nancy Lynne Jones, chief of the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, concluded, based on an autopsy, that a gun was fired as it was pressed against Scott's head in a manner consistent with a suicide, and that there were no marks indicating a struggle had taken place, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

Police Superintendent Jody Weis said that while robbery has been ruled out, he is still awaiting ballistics tests to see if the gun recovered from the scene was the one that killed Scott.

Weis said police also need to review videotape that might indicate whether Scott was alone in the hours before his death, and that there other key pieces of evidence to examine.

Scott's body was discovered early Monday morning in about a foot of water by a river bank near a bridge that crosses the Chicago River's North Branch.

Friction between the two offices that usually work together was highlighted when Chicago Mayor Richard Daley defended the police hesitancy to pronounce the death a suicide.

Weis, however, acknowledged that the two offices approach investigations differently. "I don't have any complaints or conflict with the medical examiner's call on this matter. ….We handle investigative modes, and (Jones) is dealing heavily with forensics," Weis said.

Police officials said, though, that removal of bodies from crime scenes is a common occurrence and in this case helped preserve evidence because the body had been in water.