Can accidental death be suicide?

BELLEVUE — Can a death be suicide if it was accidental?That's what Bellevue police say happened early Tuesday morning outside the Bellevue Beverage Center when a man accidentally shot himself in front of a woman and a child.It's being treated as a suicide, but it appears to be accidental, police told the Register."Either it's an accident or it's a suicide, you can't have both," said Dr. Michael Baden, a noted forensic pathologist who has worked on a number of high profile cases.Sandusky County coroner John Wukie ordered an autopsy to be completed by the Lucas County Coroner's Office, but an official ruling is pending.As an example, cause of death could be a gunshot wound to the head while the manner would be if it was accidental, suicide or homicide.If Wukie does rule the 36-year-old man's death a suicide it wouldn't be the first time he determined a seemingly accidental death could be classified as suicide."I do not feel that (it) required an intent. It is just a statement of fact … that he did this to himself," Wukie told the Toledo Blade in 2013 to justify his decision to rule Jacob Limberios' death a suicide.Wukie seemed to be the only person who believed Limberios committed suicide, and a state grand jury found ample circumstantial and forensic evidence there was no intent. The blowback to his ruling in that case — that an accidental, reckless death is suicide — would prompt him to request more autopsies in the future, Wukie told the Blade in 2013."It's going to be necessary to do more autopsies, especially in suicides because people have difficulty swallowing that word," he said.Wukie's comments about suicide not requiring intent are in opposition of the opinion of Baden and Dr. Paul Matus, who served as Lorain County's coroner for about 30 years, who both believe intent is required."I don't believe I would be diagnosing an accident as a suicide or using that determination (accidental suicide)," Matus said. "A suicide must have implied or definitive intent, so to rule it a suicide you'd have to get to the intent issue."Matus said intent can be discovered through mental health history, past half-hearted attempts, witness statements and any messages or comments left by the deceased.But he never ruled a self-inflicted death a suicide unless he was absolutely sure the person's intent was to kill to themselves."Years ago, we had a guy messing around with a crossbow and the thing went off accidentally. I didn't think he intended to kill himself," Matus said. "I didn't punish people with a suicide legacy because of bad judgment."The Register reached out to the Ohio Coroners Association, a professional organization for county coroners that promotes better practices in forensic pathology, for comment and statistics on "accidental suicides.""(The association) has no position statements, nor data on any manners of death. The Ohio Death Certificate allows manner of death to be: natural, homicide, suicide or undetermined. No other designation is available to any physician in Ohio," association executive director David Corey said. "Our education includes national guidelines for determining manner of death and we encourage our members to follow them."The guidelines to classify a death as a suicide state the evidence doesn't need to be "beyond any reasonable doubt," but it it should be "more likely than not.""If classification as suicide is little more than an informed guess or mere speculation, accident or undetermined are deemed to be better options," according to the guidelines.It, however, says in the case of Russian roulette or similar variants that placing a loaded gun to one's head and pulling the trigger signifies acceptance of a fatal outcome and determining the persons state of mind and intent are extremely difficult."Classifications of such deaths as suicide provides for a consistent approach and reflects the most common practice," the guidelines state. There isn't any indication at this time that the Bellevue man placed a gun he knew was loaded to his head and pulled the trigger. The same was true in Limberios' death. "If he thinks it's not loaded and he pulls the trigger then that would be an accident," Baden said. "You need more details, but this sounds like it's a typical gunshot suicide."The guidelines are recommendations and are not standards coroner's are required to follow. A coroner is allowed their own discretion and judgment in each case."It depends on each situation you can't take a broad stroke to this you have to look at it at on a case by case basis," Corey said.Corey did agree that a death could not be considered accidental and a suicide at the same time."The association has historically given a coroner total autonomy in their county and very rarely is a coroner pushed by the association to make a ruling," Matus said.Dr. Wukie was not in his office and didn't return a phone call from the Register.Reach reporter Michael Harrington at michaelharrington@sanduskyregister.com, follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterPathologist Dr. Michael Baden waves off media questions as he arrives to testify before the grand jury concerning the Michael Brown shooting at the Buzz Westfall Justice Center on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014 in Clayton, Mo. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT)