A newly released autopsy of slain Missouri teenager Michael Brown shows he was shot in the hand at close range, supporting claims made by a police officer that the two struggled before Brown was killed, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Brown, who was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, was struck by a bullet that traveled from the tip of his right thumb toward his wrist, according to the St. Louis County medical examiner's autopsy obtained by the newspaper. A toxicology test also showed that Brown had marijuana in his system when he died.
Michael Graham, the St. Louis County medical examiner, told the Post-Dispatch the results support Wilson's claim there was a struggle between him and the 18-year-old victim inside his police vehicle, during which his gun was fired twice.
One of the bullets struck Brown's hand. While the autopsy did not find any powder stipple on Brown's hand, often left when a gun is fired at close range, "sometimes when it's really close, such as within an inch or so, there is no stipple, just smoke," said Graham, who is not part of the official investigation.
The released autopsy is the most detailed account to date about what happened the night Brown was killed after Wilson told him and his friend to get out of the street and walk on the sidewalk in the suburb of Ferguson.
A struggle between Brown and Wilson ensued in the officer's SUV, during which Wilson said Brown reached for his gun, according to sources familiar with the case. A microscopic examination of the teenager's thumb found materials consistent with matter discharged from a gun, according to the autopsy.
Another forensics expert, Dr. Judy Melinek, told the Post-Dispatch the autopsy "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound.
"If he has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he's going for the officer's gun," said Melinek, a San Francisco-based forensic pathologist.
The autopsy, however, goes against witnesses to the shooting who claim Brown was running away from the officer with his hands in the air when he was gunned down.
The St. Louis county autopsy is just one of many that were ordered on Brown, whose death sparked months of riots, protests, rallies and calls for an end to police brutality that took another young black man's life.
Brown's family ordered an independent autopsy, the results of which are mostly consistent with the county findings, such as Brown being shot six times. But the independent autopsy concluded that none of the shots appeared to have been fired at close range because there was a lack of gunshot residue on his body.
The federal government also ordered an autopsy as part of its investigation into whether or not Wilson, who is white, violated Brown's civil rights. The result of that autopsy has not been disclosed, according to the Post-Dispatch.
A grand jury is currently hearing evidence in the case to determine if charges should be filed against the 28-year-old officer. Results are expected next month.
