The results of an independent autopsy have been announced by Dijon Kizzee's family and legal team, with attorney Ben Crump stating that it shows "excessive force" by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Crump—who is also providing his services as part of other recent acts of police brutality including the cases surrounding Jacob Blake, Breonna Taylor, and more—is now calling for the deputies involved in the killing of Kizzee to face prosecution.
"He tried to surrender to them," Crump said, per KTLA's report. "He put his hands in the air, dropped the bag, and they continued to shoot him—even though he posed no threat."
The results of the independent autopsy are said to have shown that, of the 19 shots the Los Angeles County deputies fired, 15 of them struck Kizzee. Of those 15, seven occurred when his back was toward the deputies. During the news conference excerpted in the video above, attorney Carl Douglas noted that Kizzee was "writhing on the ground in pain" when deputies "opened up on him."
While several of the ensuing wounds could have proven fatal, Douglas said that the autopsy shows that it was the 10th shot that ultimately killed Kizzee, though his death was not immediate. Instead, Douglas said, he was left "alive and bleeding" in pain while the deputies continued to "stay away."
Despite deputies' allegations that Kizzee picked up a pistol prior to being shot, Douglas told reporters on Tuesday that witnesses and the newly announced autopsy showed that Kizzee "was not holding a gun in his hand when the bullets struck him."
Late last month, protests were started after news reports and early witness accounts on the shooting started being shared on Twitter. At the time, police were claiming that the multiple shots they fired at Kizzee were a result of initialing attempting to stop him from "riding his bike [due to] a vehicle code violation."
