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WILKES-BARRE — City police are investigating the death of a 25-year-old man who died days after being struck in the face in the 500 block of North Main Street last week.
The deceased has been identified as Jeremy Soto of Wilkes-Barre. Descriptions of the case provided by police seem to be at odds with what family members and an obituary for Soto state, however.
Police version
Police on Monday did not release the name of a 19-year-old suspect in the case.
A news release posted to the city police department’s Facebook page on Thursday described the case as follows:
Police said they responded May 31 to a report of a man who became unresponsive after being struck in the face. Emergency medical technicians transported the victim to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
Police said that on June 1 they learned the victim’s condition worsened, and he died shortly after he was removed from life support.
Police said the suspect remained on scene and was later questioned.
Police said the suspect told them he was followed and attacked by the victim while walking into his residence, resulting in the suspect punching the victim in the face rendering the victim unconscious.
An autopsy was performed Thursday by the Luzerne County Coroner’s Office.
While the news release says the manner of death was blunt force trauma, Coroner Dan Hughes said the cause and manner of death are pending the police investigation.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective Thomas Harding at 570-208-4224.
Family and obituary
Friends and family members posting to social media disputed the police version of events.
A woman who identified herself as Soto’s sister in a post on the Times Leader Facebook page said Soto was not released from life support until June 4. That accords with an obituary for Soto published in the Times Leader.
Others on the post disputed that Soto had followed anyone.
“He was not confrontational. It seems more reasonable that Jeremy was followed,” another woman wrote.
Several included #JUSTICEFORJEREMY in their posts.
Friends set up a GoFundMe account for Soto’s family. As of Thursday night, the page had raised $1,599 of its $3,000 goal.