Man Killed By Seattle Police Was Intoxicated

SEATTLE, WA — The 31-year-old man killed by Seattle police at a Queen Anne apartment in May was shot a dozen times, and was under the influence of a large amount of alcohol, an autopsy report says.

The autopsy confirms what Ryan Smith's parents had guessed — that their son, who was known to binge drink, may have been too incapacitated to obey the officers who had confronted him. Smith's blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) was .36 at the time of his death, according to a state police toxicology report shared with Patch by Smith's mother.

The autopsy shows Smith was shot 12 times, and seven bullets were found inside his body, plus two wounds where only bullet fragments were found. Five of the bullets were clustered near Smith's heart, with another likely fatal bullet that hit him in the throat.

Smith's mother, Rose Johnson, said that she was "devastated" by the autopsy results — both because of the number of times her son was shot, and because of how impaired he was.

"It's just overkill on a person," she said.

Johnson also took issue with how the autopsy characterized her son's death. The report says, "[T]he decedent brandished a knife and was shot multiple times following an altercation with law enforcement." Johnson disputes that description because her son never came into contact with the officers.

Seattle police were called to Smith's girlfriend's apartment along 3rd Avenue West in Queen Anne at around 7 p.m. of May 8 on a report of a domestic violence situation. Smith's girlfriend called 911 after she locked herself in the apartment bathroom, telling a dispatcher that Smith was armed with a knife and threatening to kill her.

A video released by Seattle police shows officers Ryan Beecroft and Chris Myers kick down the apartment door. Smith stands near the doorway holding a small knife as the officers shout at him to drop it. Just before opening fire, one of the officers shines a flashlight on Smith, and he raises the hand holding the knife — what Smith's father, Mark Smith, believes was his son trying to shield his eyes from the light.

That's the moment when shooting starts — about six seconds after officers first saw Smith.

"Officers arrived and confronted the suspect. Two officers fired their service weapons, fatally wounding the suspect. Neither the domestic violence victim, nor any of the involved officers were injured," the Seattle police description of how the shooting unfolded reads.

Johnson and Mark Smith have said their son struggled with alcohol addiction beginning in his late teens. Chronic alcoholics can develop a tolerance, allowing them to function with higher BACs than non-alcoholics, studies have shown.

Read: Parents Of Man Killed By Seattle Police Feel Stranded By System

Johnson has struggled to get information from Seattle police since her son's death, she says. She is in the process of trying to complete a claim through the state Department of Labor and Industries to pay to bury his remains. She has also filed a complaint against Beecroft and Myers through the Seattle Office of Police Accountability.

Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said that the department could not comment on the autopsy results because the use-of-force investigation is still going on. Whitcomb confirmed Beecroft and Myers are back at work, but would not say when they returned to duty.

Nothing will ever heal the loss of her son, Johnson says. But she wants the officers to face consequences.

"I just think at this point the right thing for the police chief to do is to fire [the officers] and make an example that you can't just go and stampede down a hallway and shoot somebody dead," she said.