SEATTLE - The King County sheriff's office says it has nearly completed its investigation into the severe injury an Edmonds man suffered when he was wrongly arrested this month, and all signs point to it as a "tragic accident."

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Christopher Harris, 29, has been unconscious at Harborview Medical Center since the arrest May 10. Witnesses had wrongly identified him as a suspect in a convenience store fight in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, and when confronted by sheriff's deputies, he ran, refusing orders to stop.

No one knows why he ran. Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart says the "tragic accident" occurred when Deputy Matthew Paul caught up to him and gave him a shove, slamming his head into a brick wall.

Urquhart says the King County prosecutor's office concluded the deputies had probable cause to arrest Harris.

But Harris' family is outraged. The man suffered multiple skull fractures and may not make it off of life support.


Click to view image: 'The victim Chris Harris may not survive'

"The 270-pound young officer hit him, full-force, tackled him and drove his head into the wall," said Todd Keeling, Harris' stepfather.

Surveillance video from a Belltown convenience store captured the incident, in which several men, some covered in blood, ran into the store after a knife fight.

People directed King County sheriff's deputies to an alley near Fourth and Lenora, pointing out Harris. Harris was not involved in the fight, but he ran.

Harris has been married just over a year and a half.

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