An independent autopsy contradicts Sacramento Police’s narrative that they shot and killed Stephon Clark because he was aggressing toward them while holding a gun.
The autopsy shows Stephon Clark, who was unarmed, was hit 8 times, mostly in the back and two from the side.
Stephon Clark Was Shot 8 Times From Behind or the Side, Family-Ordered Autopsy Finds
Stephon Clark, the unarmed black man who was killed by the Sacramento police in his grandmother’s backyard, was shot eight times from behind or the side, according to a private autopsy commissioned by his family. The autopsy concluded that Mr. Clark’s death was not instantaneous, taking an estimated three to 10 minutes, raising questions about why Mr. Clark was not given more immediate medical care after the shooting.
Mr. Clark, whose death has sparked protests throughout the city, was shot at more than 20 times by officers responding to a vandalism report in a Sacramento neighborhood last week.
At least eight of those bullets struck Mr. Clark, according to an analysis by Dr. Bennet Omalu, a private medical examiner his family’s lawyer hired to conduct an independent autopsy, which was released Friday.
According to Dr. Omalu, Mr. Clark was shot four times in the lower part of his back, twice in his neck, and once under an armpit. He was also shot in the leg. One of the neck wounds was from the side, the doctor found.
22 year old Stephon Clark was gunned down in his grandmother’s backyard after police conducted a foot search for an individual who allegedly broke windows in the area. As officers approached Clark, they did not identify themselves as the police, but shouted the command, “Show your hands.” It’s possible that it was at this point, Clark followed the command and put his hands out with a cell phone in one hand.
WARNING GRAPHIC:
Stephon Clark and what we still don’t know about the Sacramento police shooting
“One officer appears to confirm after the shooting that Clark had obeyed their commands to show his hands,” said Mark Reichel, a civil rights attorney who reviewed the body camera footage for the Sacramento Bee.
One important element to note about the officers’ commands: They do not appear to identify themselves as police, Reichel told the Bee.
Initially, police stated they believed Stephon Clark held a crowbar and later stated they believed he was a pointing a gun in their direction.
Police body cam video reveals just seconds after the command, they began to fire over 20 shots, eight hitting Stephon Clark. Seven of those shots had a “fatal capacity” according to Dr. Bennet Omalu, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy but Stephon Clark’s death took an estimated three to ten minutes.
As Stephon Clark lay bleeding out in his grandmother’s backyard, police did not administer first aid but muted their body cams.
About seven minutes after Sacramento police fatally shot an unarmed black man in his grandmother's backyard last week, officers were instructed to mute their body cameras.
In both videos, an officer can be heard saying, "Hey, mute." Directly after, the video goes silent and officers talk among themselves.
The shooting has sparked
nationwide outrage, with the muting of the body cameras raising questions about the officers' actions. CNN has called and emailed the police department, but has not heard back.
Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn told
CNN affiliate KCRA that the action has added to the tension after the shooting.
California AG has announced the state department of Justice will provide independent oversight of the investigation into Clark’s death:
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced today that the California Department of Justice will be stepping in to provide independent oversight of the investigation into Clark’s death.
“We take on this responsibility in full recognition of the importance of getting it right – because there is nothing more important than respect and trust between law enforcement and the communities that they are sworn to protect,” Becerra said.
President Trump has been silent on the issue of police killings. When asked if the White House had a comment on the killing of Stephon Clark, Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated, “It’s a local issue.”
Clearly it’s not. Nearly 1,000 people per year have been shot and killed by police in the last three years, nationwide.
Since 2015, nearly 1,000 people have been fatally shot by police each year, according to the Washington Post’s fatal police shooting database, which began collecting and analyzing data in 2014, after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri.
Close to 250 people have been fatally shot by police so far this year, according to the Post’s database. Clark was the 225th.
In the years since Brown’s death, there have been growing calls for greater police transparency and accountability. Many police departments — including Sacramento’s — have changed their policies on things like use of lethal force and transparency around officer-involved shootings.
An alarmingly high number of unarmed individuals being murdered by the police each year, with a disproportionately high number of black people being shot down, demands federal intervention.