Official autopsy seems to support officers in Stephon Clark shooting
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Reporting from Sacramento — An official autopsy from the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by Sacramento police officers calls into question the conclusions drawn by an independent doctor hired by the man’s family.
The autopsy released Tuesday says 22-year-old Stephon Clark was shot seven times, not eight.
A pathologist retained by the Sacramento County coroner says the family’s pathologist mistook an exit wound for an entry wound, leaving the impression that police first shot Clark from the side or back.
The county’s reviewer says Clark was most likely shot as he approached police, consistent with the officers’ account. They were responding to a report in March of someone breaking car windows.
The autopsy says Clark was legally drunk and had traces of marijuana, cocaine and codeine in his system when he was shot in his grandparents’ backyard.
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