AUTOPSY ON COP'S VICTIM: MAN WASN'T SHOT TWICE, HE SAYS

Harvey officials on Wednesday disputed reports by the Cook County medical
examiner's office that a 19-year-old man who was shot and killed by a
police officer was struck by two bullets.

Mayor Nickolas Graves, who was one of the first people on the scene after
the shooting early Monday of Devon Nelson outside the Reservation
Apartments, said he has talked to more than a dozen witnesses, including
police and residents, who said they heard only one shot. He said only one
officer has acknowledged firing.

"From what I know, it is simply not true that this boy was hit by another
bullet," Graves said. "I just don't believe it. Maybe that second wound is
a scrape or another kind of abrasion, but I cannot believe it is from a
gunshot."

A spokesman for the medical examiner said Nelson was killed by a bullet
that struck the back of his head, and the area near his left collarbone was
grazed by a second bullet.

Since the shooting, Harvey officials have faced a series of allegations,
including those from witnesses who say a police officer planted a pistol
next to Nelson's body. The officials also questioned the finding that
Nelson was shot in the back of the head.

"There's so much misinformation out there," Graves said.

Harvey police have turned over the investigation to the Illinois State
Police's Public Integrity Unit and the Cook County state's attorney's
office, neither of which would comment.

Harvey Police Chief Phillip Hardiman and Graves say police were conducting
a random drug sweep when Nelson fled. As an unidentified officer chased
Nelson, who was on parole for a 1997 robbery and drug conviction, the
teenager stopped and pointed a gun at him, police said.

The officer fired once, killing Nelson, according to Hardiman and Graves.

Hardiman said the police report, filled out by officers at the scene, noted
a gunshot wound in Nelson's left temple. Graves said he saw Nelson's body
immediately after the shooting and noticed a large gash above the left eyebrow.

The medical examiner said the gash probably was caused when Nelson fell
after being shot.

Another source of controversy is what happened after the shooting. Police
said they recovered a 9 mm pistol next to Nelson's body.

At least two residents said they saw a Harvey police officer unstrap a gun
taped to his ankle and place it briefly in Nelson's hand, then lay it next
to his body.

Hardiman and Graves said it would have been virtually impossible for an
officer to conceal the pistol because it is about 8 inches long with a
6-inch grip and weighs about 2 1/2 pounds.

Hardiman and Graves said witnesses may have seen an officer pick up the
pistol. But they said that the officer who shot Nelson picked up the gun
and unloaded it to prevent anyone in the crowd from grabbing a loaded weapon.

Graves, who worked for 30 years as a police officer, defended the officer's
decision and said he did not violate department policy.

"I've done some more questioning (of the officers), and some of them told
me that they heard someone in the gathering crowd say `we got to get that
gun,' " Graves said.

Some Illinois law enforcement officials--including Hayden Baldwin, director
of the Orland Park-based International Crime Scene Investigators, and Larry
Gilbert, director of the Belleville Area College Police Academy--supported
the officer's decision, arguing that keeping a crime scene safe is as
important as keeping it secure.

But James J. Fyfe, a criminal justice professor at Temple University in
Philadelphia, said he has researched 10,000 police shooting cases and has
never heard of a police officer unloading a weapon at a crime scene.

"One of the first things you learn during basic training is never, never
tamper with a crime scene," said Fyfe, a former New York City police
officer who helped write that department's training manual.

"If this officer wanted to secure the scene so badly, why didn't he just
pick up the gun and hold it? If he already disturbed the crime scene by
picking up the gun, what's the sense in putting it back down where it is
vulnerable to being taken?"