Kerrick Trial: Would Ferrell Have Time to Struggle with Ofc. Kerrick?
CHARLOTTE, NC — Jurors in the voluntary manslaughter trial for CMPD Officer Wes Kerrick heard detailed descriptions Thursday about the 12 shots he fired.
Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Owens spent several hours on the stand describing how 10 of them hit Jonathan Ferrell.
The police dash camera video left a lot of questions unanswered as to whether Ferrell just needed help from a car crash or was trying to take Officer Kerrick’s gun.
Dr. Owens gave scenarios and bullet angles to explain to jurors to what could have happened when Ferrell ran off police dash cam video and Officer Kerrick shot him.
He said four of the wounds would have killed quickly.
“Within 30 to 60 seconds, he will have bled enough that he will definitely be unconscious and on edge of clinically dead at that point,” said Dr. Owens.
Within 15 seconds, he said Ferrell would have started passing out, depending on his adrenaline.
The most damaging bullet hit his aorta.
“That’s what’s maintaining your blood pressure,” said Dr. Owens. “Many people have dizziness, faint or fall to the ground.”
Prosecutors pointed out the incapacitating nature of the wounds as they built their argument that an unarmed Ferrell was not a threat.
The defense questioned whether Ferrell could have still struggled with Officer Kerrick, grabbed for his gun and struck him.
“Not for any significant period of time, if those are the first three shots and they happen from 30 feet away,” said Dr. Owens. “At 10 or five feet, then he, still again, has some reserve, 10 to 15 seconds potentially. So, yes, it’s still possible for him to get there.”
An officer who saw part of the shooting testified Wednesday that Ferrell was on top of Officer Kerrick at one point, but you can’t see that in the dash cam video. That was one of the possible scenarios Dr. Owens sketched while documenting the angle of each bullet during the autopsy.
“That is one position consistent with the angle of the gunshot wounds,” said Dr. Owens.
He told jurors there’s no way to know in what order the bullets struck Ferrell.
He says the only thing that is certain is that Officer Kerrick and Ferrell were facing one another when the officer shot, and Ferrell’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.
