A lawyer representing the family of a Seneca teenager who was shot by police Sunday night said the autopsy shows that Zachary Hammond was shot from behind and his car was not moving, contrary to police reports that the car veered toward the officer during a drug sting.
Eric Bland, a Columbia attorney hired by Hammond’s parents, said he has requested the state Attorney General to call for a statewide grand jury investigation into the incident.
“It is clearly, clearly from the back,” Bland said after viewing pictures of the bullet wounds at the coroner’s office Wednesday. “It is physically impossible for him to be trying to flee or run over the officer that shot him.”
Seneca Police Chief John Covington on Wednesday stood by the account told him by the officer who was attempting to make a drug arrest that night, explaining that the shots were fired from near point-blank range into the open driver’s side window.
“He actually had his hand on or very close to the car, possibly pushed off from the car,” Covington said.
But the teen, he said, “was not shot from behind.”
“The attorney wasn’t there either,” Covington said. “He’s got to put his spin on things.
“His clients are the parents and they’re grieving. I understand that. My heart goes out to them.”
The car, which was driven by the 19-year-old Seneca High School graduate, was turning toward the officer as if to run over him and the officer fired in self-defense, the chief said.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave while the State Law Enforcement Division investigates the shooting, which is standard in any police shooting.
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