Autopsy: Colorado Man Killed by Police Was Shot Three Times in the Back
WHAT HAPPENED?
Nathan Armes/Reuters
A black man killed by Colorado Springs police officers this month was shot three times in the back as he was running away, according to an autopsy report released Thursday by the victim’s family attorney. The report said 19-year-old De’Von Bailey was shot four times total, three times in the back and once in the elbow. The Colorado Springs Sheriff’s Office also released body-cam video of the incident, nearly two weeks after Bailey’s death. Police have said an officer shot Bailey on Aug. 3 when he reached for a gun, but attorneys for the family have disputed this and accused police of using excessive force. In the body-cam footage, Bailey and another man are seen talking to police about an armed robbery that took place nearby when one officer tells the men to hold their hands up so they can be searched. Bailey ran away before he was searched, and officers shouted “hands up” three times before firing shots at him. Police said a gun was found in his pants after he was shot. Darold Killmer, one of the family’s lawyers, told the AP that Bailey “did not have a weapon in his hand and had not shown any weapon when he was shot in the back and killed.”