An autopsy report confirms Allan George was fatally shot in the back by Rifle Police as they attempted to arrest him on Aug. 5 for alleged possession of child pornography.
The report also shows George had neither drugs nor alcohol in his system at the time of death.
In a 10-page autopsy report, dated Aug. 22 and released by the Garfield County Coroner’s Office on Thursday, Grand Junction pathologist Dean Havlick wrote the gunshots were fired from a distance.
“Both gunshot wounds had entrance wounds on the right aspect
of the back and exit wounds on the right aspect of the chest,” Havlick wrote in
the report.
According to the autopsy, which was conducted Aug. 7, George was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at the Grand River Hospital in Rifle on Aug. 5.
The autopsy notes that George had defibrillator pads on his chest, and breathing tube in his throat, indicating he received medical treatment.
The autopsy included a full panel of toxicology tests, and George’s blood and urine tested negative for all substances, including drugs, alcohol and cannabis.
George also had a small abrasion on his chin, and a small
gunshot wound on his right hand that likely was made by one of the bullets
through his chest, according to the autopsy.
The report also notes that while George’s hands were cuffed
behind his back when his body arrived for the autopsy, “there (were) no
injuries from the handcuffs around the wrists.”
A 5-minute video of the incident obtained by the Post
Independent shows two Rifle Police officers attempting to calm George before
the shooting.
Police were attempting to arrest George, then 57, on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, a felony, for possessing pornographic images of children on his phone.
It’s unclear from the video, shot by an eyewitness on the
bridge, what happened when police first made contact with George.
But for several minutes in the video, George pointed a
handgun at his own chest, then placed it in his pocket and appeared poised to
jump off the bridge into the Colorado River. The two police officers had guns
drawn on George, and are heard speaking to him, though it’s unclear due to
traffic noise in the video what exactly was said.
In the video, George is seen crossing the guardrail into the road, and jogging north across the bridge. After several seconds officers are heard yelling stop, two gunshots are heard and George falls forward on the ground.
The Ninth District Attorney’s Office will consider whether to bring criminal charges against the two officers involved, identified by Rifle Police chief Tommy Klein as D. Ryan, hired in 2005, and S. McNeal, also a patrol officer, who was hired in 2018.
Both officers are on paid administrative leave pending the investigation.
There is no estimated time for the completion of the investigation.
tphippen@postindependent.com