Autopsy raises questions about police account of St. Louis teen’s death

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and by Jim Suhr and Jim Salter of The Associated Press.

Mayor Francis Slay pledged an “independent and transparent” investigation of the shooting but stood behind police.

An African American teenager shot dead by white police officers in the US city of St. Louis this week died from a gunshot wound in the back, an autopsy report shows.

” ‘Just because he was shot in the back doesn’t mean he was running away, ‘ Dotson said. You shouldn’t look at one thing and say this is dispositive, and it drives me nuts that people want to rush to judgment” against the police. “And I’m not clear on this from the police account, but I’m assuming they had some officers come from the back of the house and when those young men ran down the gangway (the police officers) just fired upon them”, Christmas said.

They added that they found another three guns and crack cocaine at the house.

Police and Bell-Bey family’s attorney disagree about whether or not the late teen was carrying a gun at the time of his death.

The shooting prompted protests in the streets, with demonstrators throwing glass bottles and bricks and police using tear gas.

Police and protesters faced off Wednesday night, with tear gas used by police.

Kayla Reed, an activist with the Organization for Black Struggle, told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that police were too aggressive towards a crowd that “never was all that big.”.

The flare-up came less than two weeks after the St. Louis area was flooded with protesters from around the country marking the anniversary of the August. 9, 2014, police killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in nearby Ferguson, Missouri.

“Our announcement clearly indicated the Circuit Attorney’s Office would be conducting the exact same review as under normal protocol; the office is simply beginning immediately and expediting the process”, she said in a statement.

“Right now, you see a police officer and your first instinct is to run”, said Fred Price, 33, who lives near the shooting scene.

Police arrested nine people following the unrest.

Joyce said an autopsy showed Myers was shot eight times, with six of the entrance wounds on the back of Myers’ legs. “The folks out there don’t believe a word coming from police”, French said. According to Reuters, police said that after he was shot Ball-Bey dropped his gun and continued running. Police haven’t released the full autopsy or toxicology tests yet, and they have not explained why they don’t yet have statements from the officers. Jermaine Wooten, the attorney for the Ball-Bey family, maintains that no witnesses saw Mansur with a gun.

Police say Ball-Bey was armed with a gun and an extended magazine. Some protesters, he said, jumped on auto roofs.

“We let the police know that we are in support of them”.

The shooting drew protests throughout the day, with numerous roughly 150 people who gathered at the scene Wednesday afternoon questioning the use of deadly force.

The crime rate is high there, Dotson said.

The neighborhood made headlines earlier in the week when a 93-year-old Tuskegee Airman who had lost his way stopped his auto there to call his daughter and was robbed.