Family releases independent autopsy disputing police account

The family of a one-year-old boy killed by police in Mississippi last month has released an independent autopsy they say contradicts the official account that an officer fired because a vehicle was driving toward him. The findings, presented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump at a July 1 news conference, indicate the fatal shot entered the child’s right side, suggesting the officer fired from beside the car, not from the front.

Kohen Wiley was shot on June 14 outside a Walmart in Senatobia, a town about 40 miles south of Memphis. Police were responding to a reported shoplifting incident shortly after 2 p.m. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), which is handling the case, stated that officers encountered two adults and a child fleeing into a vehicle. The agency said an officer discharged their weapon after the driver drove in the direction of officers, nearly striking one.

The autopsy conducted for the family by forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell concluded the bullet entered Kohen’s right torso and exited his left side. Crump said abrasions on the boy’s body were consistent with fragments of tempered glass, like that of a side window, rather than a laminated...