He died in a police chase. Then the police vanished.

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A high-speed police chase. A 17-year-old Crow boy, dead. The police report? Nowhere to be found. The entire police department? Vanished. The excruciating question that emerged: What happened to Braven Glenn?

Blossom Old Bull was raising her son Braven, a diligent student and passionate basketballer, in the Crow Nation in Montana. On a dark, chilly night in November 2020, a police pursuit began while Braven was driving to meet his girlfriend. Blossom was told her son was speeding and collided with a train, but she had few other details. According to court documents, witnesses say they didn’t see law enforcement offer him medical assistance despite his cries for help. He didn't survive.

Within days, the police department that pursued Braven shuttered, leaving behind no answers, only taped-up windows and locked doors. The force was formed to increase law enforcement presence on the reservation, but by the time of Braven’s death, after just five months in operation, it was still under-resourced. Its sudden disappearance soon after a deadly chase left Braven's family and community desperately searching for answers—a familiar agony. Official silence after deaths and disappearances on Native reservations is painfully routine.

This hunt for answers is at the heart of a searing new short film from Mother Jones by reporter Samantha Michaels and filmmaker Mark Helenowski, who pored over court documents and public records, and interviewed witnesses and experts, to find out what happened to Braven Glenn.The full investigation can be found online now.

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