CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jonathan Ferrell did have alcohol in his system the September night he crashed his car in east Charlotte and was then shot and killed by a CMPD officer. But the level–60 milligrams per deciliter, or .06–was below the legal limit of .08. Ferrell, by legal standards, was not intoxicated.
The toxicology report shows he also had some caffeine and nicotine in his system. It shows Ferrell was not on tranquilizers, cocaine, pain meds or opiates. There were also no poisons in his system. WCCB News shared the report with George Laughrun, Officer Randall Kerrick’s attorney. He tells WCCB they have no comment except that they have also requested a marijuana test. Those results were not included in Friday’s release.
Chris Chestnut, Ferrell’s family’s attorney, had plenty to say. He says, “The toxicology report does confirm everything we’ve said from day one. That Jonathan Ferrell is an all-American Southern gentleman. Who didn’t abuse drugs. Didn’t abuse alcohol, and was giving a friend, a co-worker, a ride home.”
Chestnut also reviewed Ferrell’s autopsy report. It shows Ferrell’s body was handcuffed when the medical examiner received it. It also shows that of the 10 bullets Ferrell took that night, three were lethal and two potentially lethal. The downward trajectory of 9 of the 10 bullets suggest Officer Kerrick was over Ferrell. Chestnut says, “The trajectory of the bullets further confirms that toxicology is of no consequence, at least, Jonathan Ferrell’s toxicology. Why don’t we ask what Officer Kerrick had in his system? To shoot a man ten times?”
Neither CMPD nor the Attorney General’s office had any comment on the results of Ferrell’s toxicology or autopsy reports.
