U.S. Navy Officer In Philippines Leaps To Death After Being Found With Cocaine At Manila Airport

Philippine and U.S. military authorities are investigating the death of a U.S. Naval officer who leaped from a second-floor staircase at Manila airport after being arrested with a sachet of cocaine.

Manila Airport police chief Pedro Desuasido said Lt. Cmdr. Scintar Buenviaje Mejia leaped to his death Monday while being escorted to the bathroom by a security guard.
Desuasido said the 35-year-old Mejia, a Filipino-American citizen, died of massive head injuries.

Mejia  was arrested a day earlier after passing through an airport X-ray machine where Desuasido say security personnel discovered a plastic sachet in the pocket of Mejia's bag containing cocaine. Desuasio said Mejia denied the sachet was his and claimed he was set up.