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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Peoples'
family, said at a news conference that a private medical
examiner from Georgia who conducted an autopsy on the family's
behalf found that the teen had been shot in the back and that
there was no exit wound. Without the bullet and body camera
footage that captured the shooting, Crump said that the
preliminary autopsy was inconclusive.
“This family is grasping at straws trying to get the answers.
And it is not fair, it is not right and it is not just,” said
Crump, who declined to name the medical examiner.
Police said the officer approached Peoples after smelling
marijuana and shot the teen after Peoples reached for a gun
while they were scuffling. A friend of Peoples who was there
contradicted the police account, saying Peoples didn't have a
gun.
Police said the officer's body camera “clearly captured” the
details surrounding the shooting, but the Alabama Law
Enforcement Agency hasn’t released the footage, citing the
ongoing investigation. A 2023 state law that governs release of
police recordings says an agency may choose to not disclose the
recording if it would affect an active law enforcement
investigation.
Homewood Mayor Alex Wyatt urged the state agency to release the
footage on Monday, saying he didn't have the authority to do so
as mayor.
The family's attorneys criticized the mayor, saying he is
legally allowed to watch the video and tell the public what he
saw, or release official police incident reports detailing the
events that led up to the shooting.
“Just show us what happened to our child, please," the teen's
father, William Peoples, said at the news conference.
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