Cause of death
Teen shot by deputy had neck, arm wounds, coroner says.
Hunter Brittain, the 17-year-old killed by a Lonoke County sheriff’s deputy in June, died of gunshot wounds in his neck and arm, according to a coroner’s report released Wednesday.
The report from the Pulaski County coroner said the initial 911 call came in at 3:08 a.m. on June 23 and Brittain was pronounced dead around 3:58 a.m. by an attending physician at Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock.
The report said that a sergeant with the Lonoke County sheriff’s office — who has been identified as Michael Davis — conducted a traffic stop at Arkansas 89 and Tower Road when “the decedent” [Brittain] got out of the vehicle and “got something out of the back” before moving toward the sergeant, after which the sergeant fired his weapon.
Davis’ attorney, Robert Newcomb, said the report throws doubt on earlier statements from Brittain’s family members and their attorneys that the teen was shot three times.
“The only one who has
been accurate on that is Sgt. Davis,” Newcomb said. “He told the state police when he was interviewed by them that he shot one time and why. At that point, that was within a couple days of the event.”
The coroner’s report does not specify how many times Brittain was shot but does list the immediate cause/manner of death as “gunshot wound of neck and arm.” The firearm was listed as a police-issued, semi-automatic pistol.
“One bullet can go through and cause injury in more than one location,” Newcomb said.
Devon Jacob, Brittain’s family’s attorney, described the report as unclear.
“The document says what it says,” Jacob said. “Once we have the autopsy report, we will know more.”
Few details about the shooting have been officially released over the past two months.
“The family is going to continue to trust the process,” Jacob said. “While it is difficult to wait for answers, it is important that the investigation that occurs is both fair and complete.”
When asked for more information, such as the number of times Davis shot Brittain, Shantea Nelson, office manager in the Pulaski County coroner’s office, said that a state medical examiner’s autopsy report would have more information than a coroner’s report.
The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory can’t publicly release the autopsy report because of Arkansas Code § 1212-312, Director Kermit Channell said.
The law states that records, files and information kept, obtained or retained by the lab are “privileged and confidential” and that only a defendant, attorney of defendant or prosecuting attorney can be granted access to records “pertaining to a defendant’s criminal case.”
There were no indications of drug and alcohol use listed on the coroner’s report. The report was first requested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on July 8.
According to a statement previously released by the Brittain family’s attorney, the teen exited his truck to place a blue plastic bottle of antifreeze behind a wheel because the vehicle wouldn’t shift into park. Brittain was up late working on the vehicle’s transmission before taking the test drive, family members have said.
Attorney Ben Crump and Jacob were retained by Brittain’s family in the days after the shooting as the case received national attention. The civil-rights attorneys also represented the family of George
“The family is going to continue to trust the process. While it is difficult to wait for answers, it is important that the investigation that occurs is both fair and complete.”
— Devon Jacob, attorney for the family of Noah Brittain
Floyd, who died in 2020 while in police custody in Minneapolis.
Newcomb has said Brittain was pulled over by Davis because his vehicle was smoking heavily and an engine was knocking. Brittain turned into a nearby parking lot and jumped out of the backward moving vehicle and reached into the back of the truck, he said.
The teen didn’t respond to verbal commands given by the deputy, Necomb said.
Some of Brittain’s family members have said a witness to the shooting claims Davis didn’t offer verbal commands before the shooting.
Davis was fired by Lonoke County Sheriff John Staley a week after the shooting for breaking a department policy that requires deputies’ body cameras to be turned on before interactions with the public. Details about when the camera was activated and what footage was captured aren’t publicly known because Freedom of Information Act requests for the footage have been denied.
Newcomb, a Little Rock attorney who often represents police officers, requested a grievance hearing on behalf of Davis from Lonoke County. The county has not decided whether to grant the hearing, County Attorney Allen Dodson said Wednesday.
Arkansas State Police investigated Davis’ use of deadly force and turned over its findings to Fifth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Phillips, who was named special prosecutor for the case July 12.
Phillips received the investigative file on July 15, according to an email from the prosecutor coordinating office. He has not responded to numerous emails requesting updates on the investigation, including a message sent Wednesday.