A medical examiner announced that a Black motorist who was killed by police in Ohio last month received 46 gunshot wounds or graze injuries during his encounter with law enforcement.
Members of the Akron Police Department attempted to stop Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old man, for a traffic violation and pursued him when he refused to stop on June 27. Walker left his car after a few minutes and ran away from the officers, but he was shot and pronounced dead at the scene.
The department said in a statement after the shooting that Walker’s actions caused officers to perceive that he posed a “deadly threat” to them.
But Bobby DiCello, the attorney for the Walker family, told the Akron Beacon Journal earlier this month that, in a conversation with Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett, the chief told DiCello that he wasn’t so sure Walker threatened officers.
“When we were in the church, and I’ll say exactly what was said to me,” DiCello said. “The chief said he did not see the movement that put the officers in fear.”
Lisa Kohler, the chief medical examiner for Summit County, which includes Akron, said at a press conference Friday that Walker died due to blood loss from his internal injuries.
She said Walker’s injuries included 15 gunshot wounds to the torso, which caused internal injury to his heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidney and intestine. He also received 17 wounds to the upper legs and pelvis, damaging a major artery, and one wound to the face, fracturing his jaw.
Kohler said photographic records show more than 46 labelled wounds on Walker’s body because there were also exit wounds, bullets under the skin and abrasions. She said a graze injury is defined as when a bullet runs along the surface of the skin but does not enter an area of the body.
Kohler said five wounds entered Walker’s body from the back while 41 entered from the front and sides. There were 15 exit wounds. Kohler also reported that Walker’s toxicology scan came back negative for alcohol and other drugs.
Kohler said members of the Summit County executive’s staff discussed the findings of the autopsy with members of Walker’s family, and representatives were allowed to view the report in advance of the press conference.
Police claimed that Walker fired at them while they pursued him in his car, but DiCello questioned that in his interview with the Journal, pointing to the car’s back windshield being undamaged.
The legal team for Walker’s family said in a statement that the report confirms the “violent and unnecessary use of force” by Akron police on Walker. “That Jayland suffered 46 gunshot wounds to his body is horrific,” they said. “The fact that after being hit nearly four dozen times, officers still handcuffed him while he lay motionless and bleeding on the ground is absolutely inhumane.”
The department’s police chief said officers handcuffed Walker after shooting him, in accordance with department policy. “The family is devastated by the findings of the report and still await a public apology from the police department,” the statement reads.