Heartbreaking Autopsy Photo Of Stephon Clark Released As Proof He Was Shot 6 Times In The Back
The official autopsy for Stephon Clark was released Wednesday by the Sacramento County coroner and the findings differed from the examination performed by the independent doctor hired by the family. As a result, the pathologist who performed the unofficial autopsy released a phone pic of the 22-year-old’s body in an effort to prove the official report was “inaccurate.”
In a dissent Tuesday, the Sacramento County coroner’s office released its own findings that said Clark was shot seven times — three of those times in the back.
However, Dr. Bennet Omalu, the pathologist hired by Clark’s legal team, has maintained Clark was shot six times in the back and had a total of eight gunshot wounds. The county coroner called Omalu’s first report “erroneous” and said there were only three wounds in the back, reported the Sacramento Bee.
In order to provide additional evidence, Omalu — with permission from the family — released a black-and-white photo of Clark’s corpse with six bullet wounds in the back.
(Note: while the photo is too graphic to publish, it can be viewed here.)
“Experts may have different opinions, but a picture is a picture,” Omalu wrote. “A picture does not have an opinion.”
Additionally, Omalu’s report determined Clark had been hit first in the left side. As the officers fired 20 rounds at Clark, the force of the initial bullet spun him around, resulting in the young father being shot six times in the back, according to Omalu.
The only gunshot he saw on the front side of the body was one to the thigh, he wrote, but then asked that the body be turned over “so I could examine the back of his body.”
In the results from the county coroner, they claimed Clark was first shot in the thigh, meaning he was approaching the officers. Although the official report contradicts this, Omalu stands behind his results.
“I stand firmly in defense of my independent autopsy of Stephon Clark and the prevailing autopsy findings,” Omalu wrote.
“I discovered multiple gunshot wounds on the posterior surfaces of his neck, trunk, and right shoulder,” Omalu added.
Clark’s family is expected to file a federal civil rights lawsuit over his death and protesters have demanded Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert file charges against the two officers.