The Kohen Wiley autopsy findings are intensifying outrage in Mississippi after the family of the 1-year-old boy killed by police said the preliminary results challenge the official account of why an officer opened fire.
According to the Associated Press, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said a second autopsy requested by Kohen’s family suggests the baby was shot from the side of the vehicle, not from the front. That detail matters because state investigators initially said officers fired after the driver allegedly drove toward them and nearly struck one officer.
Kohen’s mother was holding him in the passenger seat when the shooting happened, and she has said her friend was driving away from officers. The family’s position now centers on the Kohen Wiley autopsy and what it may reveal about where the officer was standing when the fatal shot was fired.
Crump spoke Wednesday from the pulpit of Senatobia Church of Christ while surrounded by Kohen’s grandparents and supporters, some of whom held “Justice for Baby Kohen” signs.
“We’re going to try to continue to demand transparency,” Crump said.
Crump repeatedly made clear that the pathologist hired by the family did not have access to every piece of information in the case. He said the family is still demanding the release of police body camera footage, dash camera footage, and Walmart surveillance video.
The family displayed photos and diagrams of Kohen’s body during the church presentation, along with a photo of the vehicle. The Associated Press reported that the passenger window was shattered and that an apparent bullet hole could be seen in the windshield on the passenger side.
Crump added that the broken passenger window points to a bullet being fired into that side of the car. The Kohen Wiley autopsy findings, according to Crump’s explanation, showed that the bullet entered the baby’s torso on his right side and exited on his left.
The attorney also said clusters of cuts on the right side of Kohen’s chest and abdomen appeared consistent with broken tempered glass.
“That’s very important as we try to solve a puzzle,” he explained, adding: “The reason that we’re having to try to solve the puzzle is because they won’t release the video.”
Forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Mitchell examined Kohen’s wounds on behalf of the family. State investigators gave this initial account of the shooting: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is handling the ongoing inquiry and declined to comment on the family’s new presentation. The Associated Press also reported that Tate County Coroner Ernie Lentz said the official autopsy report is not complete.
Senatobia police officers were responding to a shoplifting call, while the Tate County Sheriff’s Office said an officer fired at an oncoming vehicle. Crump said the police call involved diapers that may have been shoplifted from a Walmart parking lot.
Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, said the driver paid for the diapers at the store’s self checkout. The Guardian also reported that no shoplifting charges had been filed as of its June 26 report. Kohen and his mother are Black, and the June 14 shooting has sparked protests in Senatobia. About 100 people gathered outside the Walmart on June 26 to demand transparency and the release of footage tied to the shooting.
The other woman in the car was badly wounded. Investigators will likely have to examine the vehicle’s position, the seating positions inside the car, where officers were standing, the damage to the car, and the bullet wounds before final conclusions are reached.
Ian Adams, a policing expert who teaches criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, cautioned against relying on wound evidence alone.
“We need to know a lot more before drawing firm conclusions based on bullet wounds alone,” Adams said.
The case has drawn comparisons to other police killings of Black people that began with accusations tied to low level offenses, including George Floyd. Crump, who represented Floyd’s family, questioned why an officer would fire after the officers’ own account said they saw two women and a child get into the car.
The Kohen Wiley autopsy has now become one of the most important pieces of the family’s push for accountability, but the family and their attorney are still pointing to one missing piece that could change the public’s understanding of what happened.
“They want us to believe that it was a life-or-death situation,” Crump added. “They told us that, but they have not showed us that.”
