Police thought student had a gun

CHAPEL HILL -- The UNC-Chapel Hill fraternity president shot to death by an Archdale police officer this summer reached for his pocket, leading the officer to think he was going for a gun, according to an autopsy report released Thursday.

The report says Courtland Benjamin Smith, 21, had told friends in Chapel Hill that he was thinking about suicide sometime before he climbed into his Toyota SUV early on Aug. 23 and headed west.

Smith, a junior biology major from Houston, called 911 as he drove through Guilford County on Interstate 40 and requested help, saying he was armed with a handgun and considering suicide. The dispatcher kept Smith talking, trying to get him to describe where he was.

Two Archdale police cars intercepted Smith's truck about 5 a.m. not long after it crossed into Randolph County on Interstate 85 traveling an estimated 85 mph. Smith pulled off the highway.

Until the autopsy report was made public Thursday, authorities have said little about what happened next.

"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 the report from the state medical examiner's office. "They then fired on him and he was hit in the abd/chest and dropped down."

The autopsy found Smith died of four wounds from a .357-caliber weapon. A sketch shows that one bullet hit the center of his torso.

The report concluded that Smith was intoxicated; the alcohol content of his blood was 0.22 percent. Toxicology tests were performed only for alcohol and, at the request of the State Bureau of Investigation, a class of sedative drugs called benzodiazepines. There were no traces of that family of drugs in Smith's system; tests for other drugs were not performed.

Drinking and depression were listed as contributing factors in his death.

"Young student had commented to friends on [the day he died] and before about possible suicidal ideas," the report said.

The SBI routinely investigates police shootings. It has not completed its investigation, a spokeswoman for the agency said Thursday.

Smith was president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and his wide circle of friends, parents of his fraternity brothers and others connected with the campus have questioned why he was shot, given that investigators hadn't said he was armed. There is nothing in the report that says Smith had a gun.

An official statement released by the fraternity late Thursday night stated they were skeptical about reports that he was depressed or suicidal. "We are also unaware of any history of depression; to the contrary, Courtland was cheerful and optimistic," the statement read.

Said he had a gun

During the 911 call, Smith told the dispatcher that he had a 9 mm handgun in his back pocket.

Guilford dispatchers relayed information about Smith to a police dispatcher in Archdale. A tape of police radio traffic in Archdale shows that officers on the scene were simply told that Smith was armed and suicidal, not that a gun might be in his back pocket.

At one point during the 911 call, an officer can be heard telling Smith to stay in his car, and Smith replies that he needs to pull something out. The recording ends before any shots can be heard.

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. However, 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 there wasn't a gun.

The Archdale officer, Jeremy Paul Flinchum, has been on paid leave pending the outcome of the SBI investigation. A second officer who was on the scene but did not fire is back on duty.

Smith was at a fraternity party the night before he was killed, and friends there last saw him about 12:30 a.m. Roommates at his off-campus home said they last saw him about 2 a.m.

The police cars had dashboard video cameras, but the Randolph County district attorney's office asked a judge to seal the video from the Smith shooting to prevent the media from viewing them. The News & Observer and other media organizations asked Randolph Superior Court Judge Vance Bradford Long to release the recording because it was a public record, but Long declined, saying it wouldn't be proper while the investigation is still under way.

The video would be made public if the district attorney decides not to prosecute Flinchum or if it is presented as evidence in a trial, he said.

The video recording doesn't show the shooting but does show the interaction between Smith and police officers beforehand, according to the judge's order.

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