Autopsy Report Of Teen Shot Dead At Car Dealership Released
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TARRANT COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) - New details have just been released about the death of Christian Taylor. He's the unarmed 19-year-old who was shot and killed by an Arlington police officer at a car dealership last month.
Among the findings in the report from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner – Taylor's manner of death is homicide. It also says the teen had six bullet wounds after being shot four times, by Officer Brad Miller who was later fired by the department. The report says some of those shots pierced his neck, abdomen and torso, and "all of the bullets appear to have been fired from in front of him."
A preliminary police investigation had already revealed that Cpl. Dale Wiggens fired a Taser on the teenager. The ME said it had no effect because only one prong of the device struck the left side of Taylor's chest.
The report also says Taylor, a defensive back at Angelo State University, had drugs in his system -- including THC, the compound in marijuana, and a synthetic drug that the ME said can "cause distorted perceptions, agitation and hallucinations, and have been associated with random and bizarre behavior in users."
After video of Taylor breaking into the Classic Buick GMC car dealership was released, his family said they would respect the investigation and let the justice system run its course. The video showed Taylor kicking in a car windshield, jumping up and down on cars, and then driving his SUV through a glass wall into the lobby of the dealership.
But when it came down to then Officer Miller firing his weapon and killing Taylor Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said, "This unilateral decision to enter the building and to continue pursuit deeper into the building upon making contact with Mr. Taylor, along with failing to communicate with fellow officers or develop an arrest plan, created an environment of cascading consequences that produced in unrecoverable outcome."
While Taylor was shot six times, the Medical Examiner's report suggests that several of his wounds were from bullets re-entering his body.
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