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‘Dozens of Gunshot Wounds from His Ankle to His Cheek on Both Sides’: Medical Examiner Reports Jayland Walker Was Handcuffed When his Body Arrived at the Coroner’s Office

A medical examiner’s report revealed a Black man, who was shot and killed by eight officers from the Akron Police Department, was handcuffed with his hands behind his back when he was brought to the coroner’s office after being shot. The report has been selectively shared with some press, but not made public.

The preliminary report by the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office regarding the death of Jayland Walker on Monday, June 27 was shared with CNN and other select outlets. The news sources were not allowed to keep the report, nor copy the pictures within the discovery, but were permitted to report what they saw.

Sharing that information is against the office’s policy.

According to one source, the report features pages of images showing the deceased handcuffed at the scene of his death and the coroner’s office. The APD claims officers tried to save Walker’s life, and images to support that do exist, including photos showing tourniquets and bandages on and around the 25-year-old’s bullet-hole-riddled body.

There were also photographs taken at the medical examiner’s office hours after the shooting. A few of the images showed a cadaver pouch and of him on the examining table, displaying the 60 wounds he sustained during the police-involved shooting.

Viewers could see, according to CNN, “dozens of gunshot wounds from his ankle to his cheek on both sides of his body.”

“Photographs in the report also show items such as Walker’s driver’s license and a bloodied set of handcuffs,” the news source revealed.

A final autopsy report has not been completed. When the medical examiner has finished the review, it will be submitted to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, the agency investigating the officers and the incident to determine if any criminal wrongdoing was committed by law enforcement.

The autopsy report will be used as a part of the evidence the state attorney general’s office intends to present to a grand jury should this incident warrant doing so.

Walker being handcuffed at the time of his death is not new news. The Walker family’s attorney, Bobby DiCello said previously, according to the Associated Press, the police handcuffed the man before administering lifesaving aid on that morning.

Originally, Walker was pulled over for a traffic stop. Walker resisted and then a car chase ensued, with multiple patrols pursuing the Black man.

Officers believe that Walker shot at their vehicle, shifting the nature of the incident, Akron Police Chief Stephon Mylett said, turning a “routine traffic stop” into a “public safety issue.”

When Walker exited his car to flee the scene, eight officers chased him and within minutes fired a reported 80 bullets at him. One officer first tried to use his stun gun, before shooting, in an effort to stop Walker from running but was unsuccessful.

Police discovered Walker was unarmed when he was fatally shot.

DiCello said he was sickened after viewing the police bodycam footage, saying, “It’s devastating to see a young life taken in this rabid, crazy way.”

“He was unarmed and I’m going to echo exactly what the (police) chief said: Each one of those bullets — and there were over 90 of them — have to be accounted for and have to be shown to be meaningfully shot.”

His sister Jada Walker said that she doesn’t want to see the footage at all. In an exclusive ABC interview, she said, “I just can’t fathom to see any sort of video of him being gunned down that amount of times.”

The family is currently preparing to bury their loved one.

“I won’t see him again,” Jada tearfully said. “I’m not gonna be able to hug him again or just remind them that I love him or anything like that.”

The sister said she needs answers to questions like “Why you had to resort to him being gunned down in such a manner?”

The attorney also addressed the way the police are portraying Walker in the same GMA interview, saying, “They’re trying to turn this wonderful young man into a monster. They’re trying to turn him into someone that he wasn’t. They’re trying to give him motives, and an intent to harm officers that he didn’t have,” he continued.

“Many Black men who have been killed and many families who experience this … it’s really hard,” Jada said. “I’ve been saying to myself: In time, it’ll get better. Just looking forward to the future and hoping that we get the right answers and out of answers, just getting justice for him as my main priority.”

The community has also called for justice, protesting in the streets so intensely the mayor called for a curfew for the downtown area of Akron. They are not only practicing civil unrest but standing with the family as they prepare for whatever comes next after the official autopsy report is released and all investigations have been completed.

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