NAACP pleads for justice after shocking autopsy reveals how Willard Scott Jr's life was ended by NC trooper

After a rally Saturday demanding the autopsy results on Willard Scott Jr. be released, the Durham NAACP has obtained the shocking results.

Scott's death was as a result of “major aortic injury with massive blood loss" brought on by the gunshots to his back, IndyWeek reported. One shot was to his left side in the lower back. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner explained: “the trajectory of the wound track is back to front.”

State Trooper Jerimy Mathis, who shot Scott, is a 20-year-veteran of the Highway Patrol, according to WITN News. He claimed that the incident occurred after Scott refused to yield, and Mathis pursued him on foot. It led to an "armed confrontation", according to Mathis, and he ultimately shot Scott. The public now knows that the confrontation led to Scott being shot in the back. It perforated Scott’s liver, struck the gallbladder and pierced his diaphragm, the results reveal. It ultimately lodged in the fleshy tissues beneath the skin of his right chest.

With the new evidence, the NAACP is requiring the Durham district attorney prosecute Mathis. They also called on the North Carolina Highway Patrol to give de-escalation training to their troopers.

“Accountability is the only way to stop these killings all across the country. As long as officers are being let off the hook in each case, the next officer will think they can get away with it too,” the NAACP said in a statement.

Scott died on the table at the Duke Regional Hospital.