Many of the protesters are calling for criminal charges to be filed against the white police officers who shot and killed the unarmed black man in his grandmother’s backyard on March 18.
SACRAMENTO (CBSNewYork/CBSNews/AP) — Saturday marked the fifth straight day of protests in Sacramento over the shooting death of Stephon Clark.
As CBS News’ Laura Podesta reported, many of the protesters are calling for criminal charges to be filed against the white police officers who shot and killed the unarmed black man in his grandmother’s backyard on March 18.
“The situation, it’s more than color. It comes down to wrong and right,” former Sacramento Kings player Matt Barnes said.
Clark’s fiancee and his young children were among those at the rally Saturday.
An autopsy commissioned by Clark’s family shows he was shot eight times, with six of the bullets striking him in the back. The report also shows that if he’d received medical attention right away, he may have survived.
“Now, given the totality of the trauma noted in the second autopsy, death was not instantaneous,” Dr. Bennet Omalu said.
The gunshots to the back also contradict what the police claimed – that Clark was approaching the officers when they opened fire. Police also said they thought he was holding a gun. It turned out to be a cellphone.
Sacramento police said they had not received an autopsy report from the county coroner’s office. They said the coroner’s death investigation is independent from an investigation being conducted by them and the state Department of Justice.
A day after the shooting, police distributed a press release that said the officers who shot Clark “saw the suspect facing them, advance forward with his arms extended, and holding an object in his hands.” The officers have been placed on leave.
Police video of the shooting doesn’t clearly capture all that happened after Clark ran into his grandmother’s backyard. Clark initially moved toward the officers, who were peeking out from behind a corner of the house, but it’s unclear if he was facing them or knew they were there when they opened fire after shouting “gun, gun, gun.”
After 20 shots, officers called to him, apparently believing he might still be alive and armed. They eventually approached and found no gun, just a cellphone.
Mostly peaceful protests have followed Clark’s shooting death, Podesta reported.
Twice demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Golden 1 Center, where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings were playing. In response, the team announced it will partner with Black Lives Matter to fund youth programs and bring “transformational change” to the city’s black communities.
“I think it’s a great forum to speak. We’re doing some spoken word, people are writing. I think things of that nature are ways to get rid of grief, get through grief I should say. I’m just here to lend my support,” Kings player Garrett Temple said during an event Friday.
Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, called Clark’s death tragic and said “raises a number of very serious questions.” He said he supports the state attorney general’s independent oversight of the investigation.
