Mother seeks answers after daughter allegedly shoots and kills herself during traffic stop

CHESAPEAKE, Virginia -- A mother is demanding answers from a police department in Virginia after her daughter allegedly took her own life during a traffic stop.

Dawn Wilson is in search of someone to help her understand and answer the questions of what happened and what could have led to her daughter taking her own life.

"The police told me that they had been surveilling the driver, in particular, that day, I don't know for how long and they decided they were going to call a uniformed officer to do a traffic stop," Wilson told WAVY.

According to police, they left Wilson's daughter handcuffed and alone as a struggle began to rise with the driver of the vehicle, Holden Medlin.

In that time, Sarah was able to grab a gun and shoot herself in the head, officials said.

Sarah's action leaves Wilson wondering how things escalated to the point and why she was near the car.

Police say they had a probable cause to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle.

During a search, police found drugs and a syringe on Medlin.

But, Wilson's mother believes a police procedure was not followed in order for this to happen.

When asked about surveillance footage from that day, police said that although the officer was wearing a body camera, it was shut off during the scuffle with Medlin.

"Even if it was true, which I don't believe, there's still a huge level of negligence on their part," Wilson said.

As an investigation to the incident is conducted, a spokeswoman with the police department says none of the officers involved have been placed under administrative or disciplinary leave.