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Autopsy shows unarmed man shot from behind by Washington police

27 February 2015 03:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Two autopsies. Two different opinions as to whether an unarmed Mexican national was shot from behind by police in Pasco, Washington, earlier this month, APA reports quoting BBC.

Charles Herrmann, an attorney for the family of Antonio Zambrano-Montes, said Thursday that an autopsy conducted by a doctor he hired showed two bullets hit the 35-year-old orchard worker in the back of the arm and in the buttocks.

This is at odds with what police said a day earlier.

Kennewick Police Sgt. Ken Lattin had told reporters on Wednesday, "we do know this from the preliminary autopsy report, there were no shots in the back."

Police said the medical examiner was doing further investigation and a final report might take as long as four weeks. Witness statements and toxicology reports are also pending, police said.

There also is dispute over how many times total Zambrano-Montes was shot. Police said it was five or six times. The family's pathologist said he may have been shot as many as eight times, according to Hermann.

Both sides appear to agree that three police officers fired 17 times at Zambrano-Montes. Police said he hurled rocks at them on February 10.

Zambrano-Montes' case has sparked local protests and anger at what some say is another example of police brutality and excessive force against an unarmed man who is a minority.

Police have alleged that Zambrano-Montes was throwing rocks at cars and trucks when he was confronted by officers. Officers attempted "voice commands and low-level force" and used a Taser, police said, but those efforts didn't work.

After two officers were hit by rocks -- at least one of them as large as a softball -- police said they shot Zambrano-Montes.