The 51-day (and counting) autopsy

I see that the Clark County authorities did another information release on the Kevin Peterson case yesterday. On a Friday, of course. That's three weekend docu-dumps in a row. What scoundrels.

Meanwhile, Peterson's family released a portion of the recording of the FaceTime phone call between Peterson and his girlfriend that was in progress at the time that he was shot dead by the sheriff's deputies.

The call video is heartbreaking, of course, but besides that, I don't see that much of anything new was revealed yesterday. There are good reports by Noelle Crombie of the O here, and by Troy Brynelson of OPB here.

There is more to come, I think. The family hasn't shown all of its cards. And appallingly, the Clark County authorities have not produced, and may never produce, a full autopsy report on Peterson.

The autopsy found that Peterson had been shot four times: once in his shoulder, twice in his chest and once in his arm. On Friday, Marissa Armstrong, a county spokeswoman, said the autopsy report is not yet finalized and is not subject to disclosure under Washington law.

It's so obvious that the first shot hit Peterson in the back as he was running away from the cops. They continue to dance around that, but it's what the two videos show. A full autopsy report would confirm or disprove it. But funny thing, here we are 51 days after they killed the man, and the report "is not yet finalized." And if it ever is, they may keep it secret.

This is why people protest.

The fact that the cops don't know everything that the family has on the girlfriend's phone must be driving them nuts. If they're going to make up any more stories, they'd like them to be consistent with the evidence.

He was running away. They shot him in the back. They lied about what happened.