Jessie Hernandez’s autopsy report reveals death was homicide

Slain teen’s autopsy report in conflict with police report

Kyle Harris

January 26: Jessica Hernandez sat in a car, in a Park Hill alley, making out with her girlfriend and chatting with her friends. Cellphone footage from that night shows her laughing. Night turned to morning. Festivities continued. Nobody suspected it would be Hernandez’s final hours.

A neighbor, disturbed by the kids, called the police. Officers arrived. They looked up the car’s license plate and discovered it was reported stolen.

Hernandez sat at the wheel. Officers approached the vehicle. The car moved backwards and forwards.

The police have released mixed stories about what happened. According to Fox Channel 31, the Denver Police Department initially said that no officers were injured, but then amended that statement, saying later that one officer suffered a broken leg. Now, the police department will not confirm whether or not an officer was injured at all.

To the horror of her friends, at least one of the officers, maybe both, opened fire, shot and killed Hernandez, dragged her body from the car, dropped her corpse on the ground, handcuffed her lifeless arms, and searched her, according to witnesses.

Now the coroner’s office has released the autopsy report. The Chief Medical Examiner James Caruso calls her death a homicide.

Hernandez suffered four bullet wounds. One bullet shot left to right through her chest, left lung, heart, and right lung. Another shot through her left chest, hit her liver and left lung, and exited out her right chest. Two wounds — one to her pelvis, the other to her thigh — were likely caused by one bullet. Apparently, at least three bullets were shot from the right side of the car.

“Jessie was clinging to her life after being suffering [sic] four gunshot wounds, including one through the heart,” a statement from the family reads. “She was then dragged out of the car, dropped on the ground, and handcuffed. The abrasions to her face confirm this inhumane treatment.“

The Denver Police Department first stated the officers were shooting in self-defense. From aerial photographs it appears as though the front and rear windshield of the car remained intact. If one or both officers were shooting from the side of the car, it’s unlikely they were in imminent danger, says Qusair Mohamedbhai, the Hernandez family’s attorney.

“The left to right wound path and trajectory of all the bullets that struck Jessica Hernandez undermine the version put forth by the Denver Police Department. The autopsy report revealed that one or both of the officers were at the side of the car when Jessica was shot and killed. This brings into question whether the officers were in threat of imminent harm when Jessica was killed.

Speculation at vigils held in her honor included talk that the car was her mother’s. Her attorney responded to requests for that info: “I cannot answer [that].  We do not have any verified information about the vehicle.” Concerning the officers’ actions:

“Law enforcement are trained that police cars are like alligators and that the heads and the tails are the parts that can hurt you. So you stay away from those,” he says. “Excessive Force case law reveals that officers may not create their own exigent circumstances. This means that their poor police tactics may not be the reason why officers ultimately have to use force.”

Denver Police Chief Robert White declined to comment on the case citing that the investigation is ongoing.

Kyle Harris