MovieChat Forums > The Wire (2002) Discussion > D Angelo's murder

D Angelo's murder

posted 8 years ago by Born_Tomorrow
20 replies | jump to latest

Every last one of those investigator, detectives and even the murderer himself, are all a bunch of idiots. All of them need a kick in the ass for this one. How the hell did they all actually believe this guy committed suicide from hanging himself from a doorknob?  A FKING DOORKNOB. He either had to have been extremely tolerant to suffering or the dumbest idiot in the jail to successfully pull that off. That's just like trying to kill yourself by putting a pillow over your head. Most people would have second thoughts and snatch that pillow off after a few of seconds without oxygen and struggling to breath. That's why people usually hang themselves a couple of feet off the ground, to prevent them from having second thoughts. The way that dumbass positioned the body, all D would have had to do was just stand up.

I woke up this way...

[–] ZCAB 8 years ago

You may have noticed that the killer puts D'Angelo's hands in his pants. He was trying to make it look like autoerotic asphyxiation gone wrong.

[–] HARDDRlVER 8 years ago

I don't mean to derail this post, but when I learned of the tragic passing of our beloved brother Robin Williams, after my initial shock I wondered, and still wonder...how he could possibly have hung himself from his closet. I am still in shock.

[–] law607 8 years ago

I don't mean to derail this post, but when I learned of the tragic passing of our beloved brother Robin Williams, after my initial shock I wondered, and still wonder...how he could possibly have hung himself from his closet. I am still in shock.

I investigated a suicide one time where a male hung himself in his closet. He applied a belt around his neck and simply knelt down. He had been involved in a verbal domestic with his girlfriend and she left the residence. Upon her return, he had locked the doors to the residence and would not answer the door.

She contacted law enforcement and said her boyfriend might be contemplating suicide as he had made threats to her in the past. Patrol units arrived and forced open the front door and then had to force their way into the bedroom and found the body in the closet.

While alcohol was involved, he was not incredibly intoxicated only registering a .12 in his system. My point is, he overcame the natural instinct to stand up when the oxygen was cut off.

To the OP...Barksdale could have absolutely hung himself from that doorknob. It is/was not as far fetched as you may believe.

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Okay, for the sake of argument, let just say he is incredibly tolerant to suffocation and asphyxiation and he has no problem doing without oxygen for a couple of minutes or he has very strong willpower, I still doubt that a doorknob could hold that much weight.

I woke up this way...

[–] law607 8 years ago

Not trying to argue but it was not his full body weight as his legs would have been on the ground. His upper torso would have been the only weight that would have to be supported.

Test your own doorknob a you'll see that you can left your full body weight off the ground by pushing down on the knob.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] choatelodge 8 years ago

Pick yourself up off the floor by holding a doorknob. Did it shear off in your hand? Now consider that institutional hardware is probably sturdier than domestic.

[–] sfrmiw 8 years ago

law607, did that case happen in Los Angeles?

[–] law607 8 years ago

In North Carolina

[–] sfrmiw 8 years ago

thanks. i guess it's a common story, unfortunately. that exact story happened to a friend of mine in los angeles.

[–] walkermcbitey 8 years ago

I think the point of it was to show the callused nature of the criminal justice system. Even though there was abundant evidence that it was a homicide nobody cared because D was just another convict and no great loss to society (thus giving them no reason to mess up their stats by opening an investigation)

[–] dmcreif 8 years ago

I think the point of it was to show the callused nature of the criminal justice system. Even though there was abundant evidence that it was a homicide nobody cared because D was just another convict and no great loss to society (thus giving them no reason to mess up their stats by opening an investigation)

I see that as history repeating itself. Remember the dealer whose murder D'Angelo was acquitted on due to the Barksdales rigging the trial. Or what Rawls said in his intro scene: "Let me understand something. You are having the deputy bust my balls over a prior-year case? Is this what I need from you, you insubordinate little *beep* I had to go upstairs knowing nothing and explain to the deputy why he's getting calls about murders that don't mean a s**t to anybody." Just like D'Angelo killed someone that McNulty said nobody really missed, no one really missed D'Angelo when he was killed. The Anne Arundel County police knew that. Hell, they probably even knew it was a murder, but wrote it off as a suicide figuring it wasn't worth the effort to conduct an investigation into a murder the public wouldn't care about.

[–] hammerbutt 8 years ago

The belt cuts off the blood to your brain which causes you to pass out probably in under a minute. The way he was slumped over would keep tension on the belt cutting off his oxygen so there was no chance of coming to before he died

[–] AndrewF80 8 years ago

This is one of the ways people kill themselves in Prison. The hands in pockets was NOT about anything erotic.

Put on a pair of tight jeans. put your hands in the pockets then sit down with your back to the wall. Your hands are pretty stuck. The handS in his pocket was the evidence it was suicide. People become creative in Prison.

This is a thing if you look it up.

The bigger question has to do with why did that prison allow belts.

[–] RauDuke 8 years ago

But when McNulty measures it, he would have just been sitting there, everything else about his hands or what happens after he hangs himself is irellevant because he didn't and couldn't do it in that scenario.

Also, bigger question, why the library? He could have pulled this off in his cell, but very few people could get to him there, they got him at work and there was never any question by the prison.

Point is, McNulty figures all this out, no one cares, don't justify the police's incompetence.

[–] misskandikrafts 8 years ago

Exactly!...I just watched that episode last night and I thought the guy was gonna at least hang Dee up somewhere to make it more believable, but NO, he wraps the belt around a damn doorknob of all things! I just threw my hands up in disbelief. Though it was supposed to be a sad moment,every time someone said the line "He tied a belt around his neck and sat his ass down" or something along those lines, I would laugh because people just accepted that explanation without looking into it further. When have you heard of someone killing themselves this way?
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[–] law607 8 years ago

I would laugh because people just accepted that explanation without looking into it further. When have you heard of someone killing themselves this way?

I guess you didn't read the comments in this thread.

[–] dmcreif 8 years ago

Though it was supposed to be a sad moment,every time someone said the line "He tied a belt around his neck and sat his ass down" or something along those lines, I would laugh because people just accepted that explanation without looking into it further. When have you heard of someone killing themselves this way?

Again, as has been said, there's every reason to believe the Anne Arundel cops would rubber-stamp this investigation - it's a waste of resources to look into the death of a guy that nobody's really going to miss.

[–] MiguelGordon (525) 4 years ago

I often look at leaked pictures of scenes of death, usually murder or suicide (judge me all you like) and this method of suicide while difficult to comprehend isn't uncommon, I've seen a number death photos where they've hung themselves in a kneeling or sitting position.

When I first saw this episode years ago I also thought the scene unrealistic.

[–] NuckyThompson 8 years ago

How the hell did they all actually believe this guy committed suicide from hanging himself from a doorknob?

They believed that's one less murder on their stats if its ruled a suicide.