The UNC-Chapel Hill fraternity president shot to death by an Archdale police officer reached for his pocket, leading the officer to believe he was going for a gun, according to an autopsy report released this morning by the state medical examiner's office.
The officer had stopped Courtland Smith, 21, early Aug. 23 on Interstate 85 after the junior biology major from Texas had called 911 and said he was armed with a handgun and considering suicide.
"He got out of the car and made a suggestive move toward his pocket which the police interpreted as a move to get a gun," according to a narrative in the report. "They then fired on him and he was hit in the abd/chest and dropped down."
Smith was then taken to a local hospital but "further IVs and CPR were done to no avail," it says.
The alcohol content of his blood was .22 percent, and the report concluded that he was intoxicated. That and depression were listed as contributing factors in his death. Toxicology tests found no trace of a class of sedative drugs called benzodiazepines; tests for other drugs were not performed.
Smith had talked with friends about suicide, the report said.
"Young student had commented to friends on (the day he died) and before about possible suicidal ideas," it said.
Smith was the president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and his wide circle of friends and others connected with the campus have raised questions about why he was shot, given that investigators hadn't said he was actually armed. There is nothing in the report about Smith possessing a gun in the report.
Investigators from the police department and State Bureau of Investigation have said little so far about the circumstances other than the officer had shot Smith in an confrontation.
The SBI routinely investigate police shootings, but has not released the results of its investigation.
The officer, Jeremy Paul Flinchum, has been on leave pending the outcome of the SBI investigation. A second officer who was on the scene but did not fire is already back on duty.
According to the autopsy results, Smith died of four wounds from a .357-caliber weapon. A sketch shows that one bullet hit in the center of his torso.
Smith was at a fraternity party the night before he was killed. The university placed sanctions on the fraternity for unrelated issues that occurred at the party.
In the 911 recording, Smith tells the dispatcher that he has a 9mm handgun in his back pocket. Information about Smith was conveyed to police in Archdale. A tape of police radio traffic in Archdale shows that the officers on the scene were simply told that Smith was armed and suicidal, not that the gun might be in his back pocket.
At one point in the 911 recording, an officer tells Smith to stay in his car and Smith says he needs to pull something out. The tape ends before any shots can be heard.
The police cars were equipped with dashboard video cameras, but the Randolph County district attorney's office asked a judge to seal them to prevent the media from obtaining copies or viewing them. The News & Observer and parent company of WRAL asked the judge to unseal them, but he declined. They would be released once the investigation is complete, he said.
The video recordings apparently capture some of the circumstances but don't show the actual shooting.
Archdale police say they turned the shooting scene over to the SBI without searching Smith's Toyota SUV, so they are unsure whether Smith actually had a gun. Smith's parents -- who have been in contact with the SBI investigators -- wrote to the parent of another fraternity member last week and said they had been told that there wasn't a gun, and said that was something the parent could share with the fraternity.
Smith's death shocked the Greek community at UNC-Chapel Hill, and hundreds of Greeks, students and faculty turned out for a memorial shortly after he was killed.
