On Friday, the family of Stephon Clark released a private autopsy that undoubtedly will add fuel to the fire. According to published accounts, the review concluded that Mr. Clark was facing the house with his left side to the officers at the moment they opened fired – hitting him initially on the left side under the arm.
That round then spun him around with his back to the officers, as six more rounds penetrated his back and the last shot hit him in the left thigh area, as Mr. Clark was either falling or had fallen.
What does that mean? The Clark family attorney, Benjamin Crump, told media that the autopsy “affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances.”
The review was conducted by Dr. Bennet Omalu, who is a prominent pathologist 
and a familiar face to those who follow the Vanguard’s court watch articles for his testimony in several high profile Yolo County cases. He is best known for his research on football-related concussions.
“The proposition that he was facing the officers is inconsistent with the prevailing forensic evidence,” Dr. Omalu said.
“He was facing the house, with his left to the officers,” he explained. “He wasn’t facing the officers. His left back was facing the officers.”
According to Dr. Omalu, it took roughly three to ten minutes for death to occur. “It was not an instant death,” he said, adding fuel to the already hot burning fire where many have criticized the officers for failing to render immediate medical aid.
Attorney Mark Reichel, who has represented clients in a number of high profile police cases including the recent Picnic Day 5 case, posted on Facebook: “Watched Dr. Omalu on his autopsy report, I think we can now know pretty much what happened, as best as possible, on the facts so far released.”
He explained: “Clark was coming to the officers, to give himself up, as they were crouched behind the corner with guns and faces out. In his left hand was his cell phone. Arms were at his sides. He had to slightly ‘squeeze’ his body past the picnic table to get between the picnic table and the side of the house as he was moving forward.
“He turned his left side in a front angle toward the officers, which makes his left hand toward the officers but at his side and his chest somewhat facing the wall, his back to the picnic table. You can see this just barely on the helicopter camera. As he is almost past the picnic table ‘gun’ is yelled and the shots ring out.”
At this point, Mr. Reichel estimates, he “was maybe 10 feet from the officers.”
First, he said, “The absence of ‘stop,’ ‘get down,’ ‘halt,’ ‘get on the ground’ led to the first shots, and that is troubling. He seemed to be following their commands as he was under arrest and was to ‘show me your hands.’ At night, in the dark, with no lights on, a ‘show me your hands’ order is a bad idea. Stop, halt, get down on the ground, turn your back to me and walk slowly, all of those are the better call. The picnic table in between is the big problem for this scenario.”
Second, “The use of 20 lethal shots is the second troubling issue.”
Third, “Waiting the 5 minutes to even consider rendering aid is the third troubling issue.”
Fourth, “Never, ever, ‘mute’ a microphone in the minutes following the shooting of an unarmed suspect. That is the fourth troubling issue. No information is always followed by suspicion and misinformation.”
Finally, he said, “It seems like the case, sadly, presents a great training opportunity that the California Attorney General has advised they will be looking into.”
The history of police encounters is not promising. Yesterday, police officials announced that a police officer was fired nearly two years after shooting and killing Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, after responding to a call at a convenience store parking lot on July 5, 2016. But officials from both the state and federal government declined to bring criminal charges against the fired officer or the fellow officer, who was suspended for three days.
A number of high profile cases have seen the officers either not charged with a crime (such as in Ferguson and Staten Island) or acquitted like the officer who shot and killed Philando Castille.
One exception was Officer Michael Slager who killed Walter Scott in South Carolina, where the jury hung 11-1 for guilt in the state trial, but he accepted civil rights violations in federal court that will give him a lengthy prison sentence.
In Sacramento neither the officers who killed Joseph Mann nor those who killed Dazion Flenaugh have faced charges, while the officer who beat up Nandi Cain was reinstated.
Sacramento officials have turned this case over to the California AG’s office. But it is not clear that they have a much better track record on such matters.
However, the autopsy does raise significant questions about the police account that he represented a threat when he was shot.
In their initial account, the police department stated that Mr. Clark had “advanced toward the officers” while holding what they said was a firearm. The body camera footage shows it is unclear which direction he was facing, and Mr. Crump believes that the autopsy contradicts the claims by police that he was a threat.
On Friday, the attorney said the results demonstrated that Mr. Clark was not moving toward the officers when they opened fired.
“These findings from the independent autopsy contradict the police narrative that we’ve been told,” he said. “This independent autopsy affirms that Stephon was not a threat to police and was slain in another senseless police killing under increasingly questionable circumstances.”
However, the NY Times today notes, “Outside experts who have examined the case say it will be difficult to determine whether the officers could be held criminally accountable. The Supreme Court has sided with the police in fatal shootings if it is shown that officers reasonably believe their lives were in danger.”
And that is the rub.
The Times quotes Justin Nix, who teaches policing at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, who said, “Any police shooting on camera is going to look bad. But when the guy is on his stomach and they continue to shoot, a lot of people are going to be bothered by it.”
Mr. Nix agreed the autopsy undercut the police’s version of events, but said: “He’s facing slightly in their direction. And it is possible they felt he was still reaching for what they thought was a gun.”
David Harris, also quoted by the Times, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who studies police accountability, said that while the new account is troubling, the shots to Mr. Clark’s back were “not enough by itself to seal a negative judgment,” he said. In part that is because “the victim’s body may have turned after the shooting began, and it is still unclear whether they could see that he had turned.”
What this shows is that, once again, it is going to be difficult to convict the officers of a crime and we need to figure out different ways to hold police accountable, and we need to change the way they pursue these types of situations.
Until they figure out a better way, these cases will continue and their resolution will not satisfy anyone.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
This fantastic info graphic covers much of the explanation for the current state of the black community and the troubles with it and law enforcement.
http://metrocosm.com/us-immigration-history-map.html
It is too bad that the same people that claim to be the champions of black rights oppose those working to provide the changes that would provide the most help.
It’s a very cleverly-executed animation, but aside from the fact that it doesn’t cover the most significant period of African immigration (better know as “the slave trade”), I don’t understand the connection with the current state of relations between the African-American community and the police. Can you clarify?
I believe that the forced immigration of slave trade is included. There are records for those numbers.
This explains it well enough. https://cis.org/Testimony/Immigration-and-Black-Americans-Assessing-Impact
According to Wikipedia, here are those numbers:
Number of slave ships to the present-day U.S. between 1620 and 1800: 193,455.
Number between 1801 and 1825: 109,545.
Number after 1825: 2,326.
The animation begins in 1820, so it leaves out the bulk of the slave arrivals.
Good point. However, there is a starting population with the graphic. I would assume those numbers are included.
However, regardless if the numbers are included or not-included it does nothing to change the point that massive immigration primarily from Mexico and primarily poor and uneducated people, and a lot of people working in the illegal and violent drug trade business, has had a big hand in the economic devastation of the black community beginning almost immediately after our civil rights reforms where implemented. And this economic devastation and drug trade has led to a culture of criminality in the black community that is an order of magnitude greater than it is for other communities.
“massive immigration primarily from Mexico and primarily poor and uneducated people, and a lot of people working in the illegal and violent drug trade business, has had a big hand in the economic devastation of the black community beginning almost immediately after our civil rights reforms where implemented. And this economic devastation and drug trade has led to a culture of criminality in the black community that is an order of magnitude greater than it is for other communities.”
Yeah, being kidnapped and torn from their culture, more than a century of legally codified physical and mental abuse by their captors, another 153 years of discriminatory education, hiring, lending and housing practices and the CIA infusing massive quantities of cocaine into the black community in the 80s to finance the Contras were just minor contributions to “a culture of criminality in the black community,” right? Where do you neocon revisionists meet to concoct this nonsense?
I believe you are not only repeating the true revisionist meme, but you are also demonstrating the “thinking” that prevents any substantive improvements. There is certainly certain political convenience in holding on to that “thinking” and meme. And I suppose there is great compelling attraction in a “victims unite” story to be told… except that it is fiction and traps the victims in a cycle of victimhood in the hood.
Jeff
I may be mistaking your intent, but I cannot believe that you are suggesting that being brought here involuntarily as slaves, have generations of children torn from their parents, being excluded from both the commerce, education, housing and political participation including voting that allowed whites to thrive while deliberately holding back blacks was a voluntary choice on their part. Are you?
Oh Jesus. You are not only mistaken, I cannot even connect the dots with your question. Have you been drinking?
Let’s shift the conversation to see if you have enough real thinking in this topic, or if you are just stuck in a loop of never-ending repeating of the meme… which might explain the disconnect.
Please tell me specifically what you think the problems are and what you think needs to be done to fix them.
“Please tell me specifically what you think the problems are and what you think needs to be done to fix them.”
I would have been happy too had you addressed this as a legitimate difference of perspective. Not when you accuse me of drinking. Kind of reminiscent of another accusation you made about me publicly which you knew to be false, but stated anyway.