XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: shooting@coons.com   
      
   Michael Brown, the unarmed black teen who was killed by a white   
   police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in August, was shot in the hand   
   at close range and had marijuana in his system, an autopsy   
   report by the St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office   
   concludes.   
      
   The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published the report on its website.   
   Suzanne McCune, administrator for the county medical examiner,   
   acknowledged the accuracy of the report, but said the office did   
   not release it to the newspaper.   
      
   The county report in some ways differs from the autopsy   
   conducted at the request of Brown's family, which concluded the   
   shots were fired from at least a foot away and as far as 30 feet   
   away. Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Brown's family, said   
   Wednesday that he and the Brown family don't trust the autopsy   
   report.   
      
   The county report says a preliminary investigation indicates   
   Brown became "belligerent" with officer Darren Wilson after   
   Wilson asked him to stop walking in the street. The report says   
   Wilson attempted to get out of his patrol car and that Brown,   
   18, pushed the door shut "and began to struggle with Officer   
   Wilson."   
      
   The report says the gun went off during the struggle and that   
   Brown fled. Wilson gave chase, the report said, and opened fire   
   when Brown turned and started running back toward the officer.   
      
   Brown's family says the officer attempted to pull Brown into the   
   patrol car and that the teen was killed when, after fleeing, he   
   turned around and raised his hands to surrender.   
      
   Michael Graham, who is medical examiner for the city of St.   
   Louis and is not part of the official investigation, reviewed   
   the autopsy report and said it "does support that there was a   
   significant altercation at the car."   
      
   The county autopsy report indicates a shot traveled from the tip   
   of Brown's right thumb toward his wrist. The report says there   
   is no stipple — powder burns around a wound from a gunshot at   
   close range. But Graham told the newspaper that stipple does not   
   always appear "when it's really close, such as within an inch or   
   so."   
      
   The county report does indicate that the thumb wound contained   
   "foreign particulate matter ... consistent with products that   
   are discharged from the barrel of a firearm."   
      
   Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco, told the   
   newspaper the autopsy indicates Brown was "reaching for the gun,   
   if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound." She   
   added, "If he has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he's   
   going for the officer's gun."   
      
   Crump said the leak of the report probably was meant to distract   
   the public from asking why Wilson shot Brown as he was running   
   away.   
      
   "We don't know if any of this is accurate because this is the   
   St. Louis Medical Examiner who works with the prosecutor and the   
   police every day," Crump said. "We haven't had a chance to vet   
   what they have looked at and what they have reviewed. So the   
   family definitely questions everything that the St. Louis   
   Medical Examiner is saying and what they have done."   
      
   Pathologist Michael Baden, who conducted the autopsy requested   
   by the family, has concluded that bullet wounds to Brown's arms   
   could have been sustained by putting his hands up or crossing   
   his arms.   
      
   Last week, The New York Times reported that Wilson told   
   investigators that he was pinned in his vehicle and in fear for   
   his life as he struggled for control of the gun. The Times,   
   citing government officials briefed on the federal civil rights   
   investigation, said Wilson told the authorities that Brown   
   reached for the gun, that it was fired twice in the car, and   
   that the first bullet struck Brown in the arm while the second   
   bullet missed.   
      
   Wilson told the authorities that Brown punched and scratched him   
   repeatedly, leaving swelling on his face and cuts on his neck,   
   the Times said.   
      
   That description of events conflicts with the description   
   offered by Dorian Johnson, who was with Brown when the shooting   
   took place. Johnson said Wilson was the aggressor, grabbing   
   Brown by the neck, choking him and then grabbing Brown's arm to   
   pull him into the car.   
      
   Johnson said Wilson pulled out his gun and shot Brown. Johnson   
   said the men then fled but stopped when ordered to do so, and   
   that Brown was shot when he turned around to surrender.   
      
   The shooting set off weeks of unrest in the predominantly black   
   community outside St. Louis. A grand jury is hearing the case   
   and will decide whether to charge Wilson with Brown's death.   
      
   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/22/ferguson-   
   michael-brown-autopsy-report/17708789/   
      
       
      
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