Sacramento coroner refutes private autopsy conducted on Stephon Clark

The findings of an official autopsy conducted on the police shooting victim contradicts several findings of a previous examination done on his body

Kia Morgan-Smith

May 2, 2018

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The official coroner’s autopsy report detailing the death of unarmed Black man Stephon Clark by Sacramento police, was released and shows disparities from the private autopsy report Clark’s family revealed a few weeks ago.

The major difference is how many shots were fired into Clark and exactly where, reports the Sacramento Bee.

Clark’s family released a report that said he was shot six times in the back in his grandmother’s backyard. However, Sacramento County Coroner Kimberly Gin said in a letter to police that Clark was shot three times in the back and he was shot a total of seven times, not eight.

Gin said she released this report, “In light of the erroneous information that was released from the private autopsy.”

Even more remarkable is that a toxicology report ordered by the police showed traces of cocaine, cannabis and codeine in Clark’s system. Also, codeine and hydrocodone were found in Clark’s urine.

“It is clear from review of the written report and photographic documentation that Stephon Clark was struck by seven bullets, not eight as claimed by Dr. Omalu in his press conference statements and as shown on his autopsy diagram,” wrote Dr. Gregory D. Reiber, a Roseville pathologist who reviewed the county’s autopsy report at Gin’s request.

The reports differ in where Clark was first shot and where he was standing.

Omalu’s report said Clark received no entry wounds from the front of his body. Instead, the autopsy found, he was facing his grandmother’s house with his left side pointed toward the officers who shot him, first hitting him under the left arm. But the blast of that shot spun him around so that his back was toward the officers leaving it exposed to six more shots. Another shot struck him in his left thigh as he fell to the ground.

Reiber disputes that claim saying that the first shot to hit Clark “was most likely” to the left thigh. He said Clark was likely walking toward the officers or “possibly in the crouching position.”

“At no time does the video show Clark to have the left side of his body facing the officers’ position as shots are fired, nor does the video show him turning around from a left-facing position, still upright, and putting his back squarely toward the officers as there are further shots fired which then dropped him,” Reiber wrote. “The video evidence provides clear refutation of Omalu’s description of Clark’s positioning during the shooting as described in his press conference statements.”

How it happened

Clark was killed March 18 when Sacramento police got a call reporting a car burglar in the city’s Meadowview area. The two officers chased Clark into the backyard of his grandparents’ home and ordered him to show them his hands, then fired 20 shots at him, believing he had a weapon. However, he only had a cellphone in his possession.

The officers’ body cameras were muted, although police chief Daniel Hahn has reportedly said he does not know why they were.

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