An independent autopsy has shown that Stephon Clark, who was shot and killed by Sacramento police this month when they thought he was pulling a gun but it was actually a cellphone, was hit eight times, mostly in the back.
According to Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist hired by the Clark family, the man had six gunshot wounds in his back, one to his side and another one to his left thigh.
“The narrative that had been put forth was that they had to open fire because he was charging at them,” Benjamin Crump, one of the lawyers for the Clark family, said Friday. “Well obviously, based on Dr. Omalu’s findings and the family’s autopsy, it suggests all the bullets were from behind.”
The full report conducted by the Sacramento County Coroner this week determined Clark’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. The coroner also ruled the cause of death to be homicide.
However, the full report will not be released until the case is adjudicated in court.
“During the entire interaction he had his back to the police officers,” Omalu said when he presented the autopsy Friday.
Clark was shot on March 18 when police responded to a 911 call about someone who was breaking car windows.
When Clark hopped the fence into his grandmother’s property, police pursued him. After ordering him to show his hands, they fired their weapons seconds later. Officers then shot at him because they thought he drew a gun at them, and body camera video reveals an officer shouting the world “gun” repeatedly. Only a cellphone was found on his body later.
Police have said officers fired 20 shots at Clark, who was 22.
“Each one of these bullets possessed a fatal capacity,” Omalu said. “All he needed to have died was just one of them.”
Following the shooting, there have been hundreds of demonstrations in the Sacramento area.
On Thursday, Clark’s brother Stevante Clark temporarily shut down a city council meeting chanting his brother’s name.
“The mayor and the city of Sacramento has failed all of you,” he told the meeting.
The Sacramento Police Department has opened an investigation into the shooting. Chief Daniel Hahn requested help from the California Department of Justice this week to conduct its own independent investigation.
