The St. Louis Post-Dispatch obtained the official coroner’s report on the death of the teen, who was shot in August in a confrontation with police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson. The toxicology report also said that Brown had marijuana in his system at the time of the shooting.
The official autopsy on Michael Brown — the teen who was shot dead by a police officer, sparking unrest in Ferguson, Missouri in August — revealed he sustained a close-range gunshot wound to hand, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The image of 18-year-old Michael Brown on a tie worn by his father, Michael Brown Sr., at his funeral service in St. Louis in August.
Adrees Latif / Reuters
The accompanying toxicology report indicates Brown had marijuana in his system at the time of the shooting.
The reports, obtained by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch after being written by the St. Louis County medical examiner, provide the most detailed description so far of Brown's wounds after he was shot by police Officer Darren Wilson.
A source with knowledge of Wilson's statements said he told investigators about a struggle between Brown and Wilson inside a police SUV, according to the newspaper. Wilson then reportedly fired the gun twice, with one shot hitting Brown in the hand.
County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Graham, speaking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said Tuesday that the autopsy "does support that there was a significant altercation at the car." Dr. Graham is not part of the official investigation.
He told the Post-Dispatch:
Graham said the examination indicated a shot traveled from the tip of Brown's right thumb toward his wrist. The official report notes an absence of stippling, powder burns around a wound that indicate a shot fired at relatively short range.
But Graham said, "Sometimes when it's really close, such as within an inch or so, there is no stipple, just smoke."
The report on a supplemental microscopic exam of tissue from the thumb wound showed foreign matter "consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm."
Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist from San Francisco, told the paper that the autopsy "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound."
"If he has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he's going for the officer's gun," she added. The Post-Dispatch also cites sources that state Brown's blood had been found on Wilson's gun.
Melinek also said the findings don't support the claim that Brown was shot either with his hands up, or while he was running away. The wounds indicate that Brown was either falling forward or lunging towards the shooter at the time of the fatal shot, she said.
The paper also ran an account of what Wilson told investigators after the shooting, according to a source. Wilson described a struggle with Brown inside his SUV, then a confrontation with him on the street:
Wilson said Brown had not had his hands up; his left hand was slightly out, fingers pointing down. His right hand was grasping his shirt. Then, Wilson told investigators, Brown began running toward him.
Wilson said he had yelled for Brown to stop, then fired, the source said. Brown flinched as if he was hit, and Wilson said he had stopped shooting. Brown continued running toward him, and Wilson said he had fired several more shots. The source said that Wilson had recalled that Brown's head was down when the last shot hit him there.
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