TWO STORIES

Coroner: Independent Autopsy of Stephon Clark Was ‘Erroneous’

County coroner claims Clark was first shot in the thigh while facing officers.

Six weeks after Stephon Clark was shot by Sacramento Police while unarmed, the county coroner released a report that contradicts the findings of a private autopsy that the family ordered. The Sacramento Bee reports Coroner Kimberly Gin said Clark “was shot seven times—not eight—and three of the shots—not six—were fired into his back.” Gin claimed that a toxicology report found cocaine, cannabis, codeine, and hydrocodone in Clark’s system. The private autopsy released last month said the first shot fired by police hit Clark’s left side and spun him around. He was then shot six times in the back. But pathologists for the county coroner’s office concluded the first bullet hit Clark’s thigh as he was either “walking toward the officers’ position... or possibly in the crouching position.” The county also pointed to video evidence, claiming that Clark’s left side never faced the officers as the shots were fired.