John Doe investigation into death of Corey Stingley begins

WEST ALLIS (WITI) -- A private John Doe investigation into the death of Corey Stingley began on Tuesday, July 2nd.

A peaceful demonstration was held on Monday, July 1st in front of VJ's Food Mart in West Allis, in honor of 16-year-old Corey Stingley.

Stingley died after an incident at the West Allis convenience store back in December.

Stingley, a Nathan Hale High School student tried to shoplift beer from the store, but customers restrained Stingley, and he later died.

Stingley's father believes they killed his son.

In January, Craig Stingley read a statement to the media and did not take any questions, saying "The word of God tells me to know the truth, and the truth will set me free."

Craig Stingley admitted that his son was trying to shoplift at the store, but he says Corey had returned the items to the store manager, and was then assaulted by three adult male customers. Stingley described how the men held his son, "In a choke hold headlock by one defendant, both legs held by a second defendant, and the left arm stood upon by a third defendant for approximately 20 minutes."

Stingley says those customers and the store manager violated his son's civil rights by not allowing him to leave the story after he returned the merchandise.

Stingley says he watched the surveillance video of the incident. He says it is clear to him that his son is dead because of what those men did to him.

"Corey Stingley was not just simply restrained, but the life was literally choked from his body because of the actions of all three adult men," he said.

Corey Stingley suffered severe brain damage from that December incident. He was taken off life support on December 29th.

Someone who says they were working inside the store at the time told FOX6 News that Corey tried jumping over the counter to get his debit card -- and the customers thought Corey was trying to jump the clerk.