Federal autopsy ordered in Missouri teen's death

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday ordered a federal medical examiner to perform another autopsy on the body of a black Missouri teenager whose fatal shooting by a white police officer has spurred a week of rancorous and sometimes violent protests in suburban St. Louis.<br /> <br /> Department of Justice spokesman Brian Fallon cited a request by family members and the "extraordinary circumstances" surrounding the case of 18-year-old Michael Brown in explaining decision.<br /> <br /> "This independent examination will take place as soon as possible," Fallon said in a statement. "Even after it is complete, Justice Department officials still plan to take the state-performed autopsy into account in the course of their investigation."<br /> <br /> The Justice Department already had deepened its civil rights investigation of the shooting. Officials said a day earlier that 40 FBI agents were going door-to-door gathering information in the Ferguson, Missouri, neighborhood where an unarmed Brown was shot to death in the middle of the street on Aug. 9.<br /> <br /> David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor who supervised the criminal civil rights section of Miami's U.S. Attorney's office, said a federally conducted autopsy "more closely focused on entry point of projectiles, defensive wounds and bruises" might help that investigation, and that the move is "not that unusual."<br /> <br /> He also said federal authorities want to calm any public fears that no action will be taken on the case.<br /> <br /> Holder's latest announcement followed the first night of a state-imposed curfew in Ferguson, which ended with tear gas and seven arrests after police dressed in riot gear used armored vehicles to disperse defiant protesters.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2014/8/278414