Autopsy May Bolster Claim of Police Brutality

Stanley P. Buchanan was shot six times--in the chest, left shoulder and back--and the rounds fired by a San Diego police officer tore downward through the man’s body, according to an autopsy report released Tuesday.

Although the report draws no conclusions beyond the cause of death, the downward trajectory of the bullets could bolster a claim made by an attorney for the Buchanan family that the 32-year-old man was repeatedly shot as he fell and hit the floor last month in his Southeast San Diego apartment.

The lawyer, Richard Potack, has said that Buchanan was shot twice while backed up against a wall, and then four times as he lay face up on the floor. He has decried the shooting as a needless tragedy that unfolded April 22 when Timothy A. Fay and two other police officers entered the apartment in search of drugs.

Serious Doubts

Also sharply critical of the shooting has been Herb Cawthorne, president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of San Diego.

“This situation has bothered me, period, whether the bullets would have been at a flat angle or at a downward angle,” Cawthorne said. “It was clear to us that that young man, no matter what the circumstances, did not need to be shot.

“And, if the autopsy report shows the bullets entering at a 75-degree angle, it just confirms what we have been saying from the begining of this incident: that we have serious doubts that the deadly-force policy of the San Diego Police Department was applied appropriately in this case.”

The autopsy report does not disclose the exact positions of Buchanan and Fay as the gunfire erupted from Fay’s service revolver. Charles Kelley, the deputy San Diego County coroner who wrote the report, was not in the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. A second deputy coroner refused to discuss the report.

The report discusses the trajectory of the six bullets and notes that half of them ripped through Buchanan’s body at significantly downward angles.

Two of the bullets went through Buchanan’s left arm, chest and abdomen at angles “markedly downward at approximately 75 degrees.”

Difference in Stature

A third bullet hit in the left side of his chest at an angle of 45 degrees, while two other shots tore through the left side of his chest at 30-degree angles.

The sixth shot had a “slightly downward” trajectory after striking him in the left side of his back.

The report also notes that Buchanan was 5-foot-6 1/2 and weighed about 171 pounds. In contrast, Fay has been described as about 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds.

The autopsy showed there were no gunshot exit wounds, according to the report. And none of the wounds was accompanied by smoke or gunpowder burns, which would have indicated the bullets were fired at close range.

Potack has contended that Fay was “anywhere from 10 to 12 feet away” when he shot Buchanan.

The official police version of the shooting has been that Fay fired on Buchanan after the drug suspect grabbed a flashlight belonging to one of the other police officers. The autopsy report says that Buchanan threatened the officers with the flashlight.

Tests Showed Cocaine Use

“The decedent was shot six times in his apartment on Logan Avenue after he had wrested away a flashlight from one of two policewomen who were attempting to arrest him on suspicion of possession of rock cocaine,” the report says.

“Officer Timothy A. Fay fired the six shots when the decedent raised the flashlight to strike one of the policewomen.”

The report also says that blood and urine tests revealed that cocaine was in Buchanan’s system when he died.

Buchanan, who had a lengthy criminal record, was searched moments before the shooting and found possess rock cocaine, police said. But police sources have also said that the two other officers were planning only to spray Buchanan with Mace and were “shocked and surprised” when Fay opened fire.

Fay, an 11-year veteran officer, has been placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of a review of the shooting by the district attorney’s office.

He has been the target of several police brutality lawsuits in the past, a fact that has prompted many Southeast community leaders to call for a speedy investigation into the Buchanan shooting.

“We have requested an expedited process so we can get this one behind us,” Cawthorne said.