Autopsy result shows Michael Brown was shot at least 6 times
19 Aug 2014 10:59 PM IST
Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was killed by a police officer, sparking protests around the nation, was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, a preliminary private autopsy performed on Sunday found.
A new eyewitness who recorded footage of Michael Brown on her phone says he was chased down by officer Darren Wilson. Piaget Crenshaw has come forward with her account of the immediate events prior to Brown’s murder. ‘I knew the police shouldn’t have been chasing this young boy and firing at the same time,’ she says.
According to her, Wilson looked like he was trying to pull Brown into the police car. She said it ‘upset the officer’ that Brown got away, and he began firing at him. By her account, when one of the bullets grazed Brown’s arm, he turned around and ‘then he was shot multiple times.’
She described how after Brown was lying dead on the street, ‘Wilson looks baffled, like “What have I just done?”’
One of the bullets entered the top of Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr Michael M Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said.
Brown, 18, was also shot four times in the right arm, he said, adding that all the bullets were fired into his front.
The bullets did not appear to have been shot from very close range because no gunpowder was present on his body. However, that determination could change if it turns out that there is gunshot residue on Brown’s clothing, to which Baden did not have access.
Attorney General Eric H Holder Jr said on Sunday that the justice department would conduct its own autopsy, in addition to the one performed by local officials and this private one because, a department spokesman said, of ‘the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family.’
The preliminary autopsy results are the first time that some of the critical information resulting in Brown’s death has been made public. Thousands of protesters demanding information and justice for what was widely viewed as a reckless shooting took to the streets here in rallies that ranged from peaceful to violent.
Brown died last week in a confrontation with a police officer in this suburb of St Louis. The police department has come under harsh criticism for refusing to clarify the circumstances of the shooting and for responding to protests with military-style operational gear.
‘People have been asking: How many times was he shot? This information could have been released on day one,’ Baden said in an interview after performing the autopsy. ‘They don’t do that, even as feelings built up among the citizenry that there was a cover-up. We are hoping to alleviate that.’
Baden said that while Brown was shot at least six times, only three bullets were recovered from his body. But he has not yet seen the X-rays showing where the bullets were found, which would clarify the autopsy results. Nor has he had access to witness and police statements.
Baden provided a diagram of the entry wounds, and noted that the six shots produced numerous wounds. Some of the bullets entered and exited several times, including one that left at least five wounds.
‘This one here looks like his head was bent downward,’ he said, indicating the wound at the very top of Brown’s head. ‘It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.’
He stressed that his information does not assign blame or justify the shooting.
‘We need more information; for example the police should be examining the automobile to see if there is gunshot residue in the police car,’ he said.
A new eyewitness who recorded footage of Michael Brown on her phone says he was chased down by officer Darren Wilson. Piaget Crenshaw has come forward with her account of the immediate events prior to Brown’s murder. ‘I knew the police shouldn’t have been chasing this young boy and firing at the same time,’ she says.
According to her, Wilson looked like he was trying to pull Brown into the police car. She said it ‘upset the officer’ that Brown got away, and he began firing at him. By her account, when one of the bullets grazed Brown’s arm, he turned around and ‘then he was shot multiple times.’
She described how after Brown was lying dead on the street, ‘Wilson looks baffled, like “What have I just done?”’
One of the bullets entered the top of Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr Michael M Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said.
Brown, 18, was also shot four times in the right arm, he said, adding that all the bullets were fired into his front.
The bullets did not appear to have been shot from very close range because no gunpowder was present on his body. However, that determination could change if it turns out that there is gunshot residue on Brown’s clothing, to which Baden did not have access.
Attorney General Eric H Holder Jr said on Sunday that the justice department would conduct its own autopsy, in addition to the one performed by local officials and this private one because, a department spokesman said, of ‘the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family.’
The preliminary autopsy results are the first time that some of the critical information resulting in Brown’s death has been made public. Thousands of protesters demanding information and justice for what was widely viewed as a reckless shooting took to the streets here in rallies that ranged from peaceful to violent.
Brown died last week in a confrontation with a police officer in this suburb of St Louis. The police department has come under harsh criticism for refusing to clarify the circumstances of the shooting and for responding to protests with military-style operational gear.
‘People have been asking: How many times was he shot? This information could have been released on day one,’ Baden said in an interview after performing the autopsy. ‘They don’t do that, even as feelings built up among the citizenry that there was a cover-up. We are hoping to alleviate that.’
Baden said that while Brown was shot at least six times, only three bullets were recovered from his body. But he has not yet seen the X-rays showing where the bullets were found, which would clarify the autopsy results. Nor has he had access to witness and police statements.
Baden provided a diagram of the entry wounds, and noted that the six shots produced numerous wounds. Some of the bullets entered and exited several times, including one that left at least five wounds.
‘This one here looks like his head was bent downward,’ he said, indicating the wound at the very top of Brown’s head. ‘It can be because he’s giving up, or because he’s charging forward at the officer.’
He stressed that his information does not assign blame or justify the shooting.
‘We need more information; for example the police should be examining the automobile to see if there is gunshot residue in the police car,’ he said.
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