BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 918-1042

CHAPEL HILL — Courtland Smith “made a suggestive move toward his pocket which the police interpreted as a move to get a gun,” according to an autopsy report released Thursday.

Smith, a UNC student and president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, died Aug. 23 in Guilford County after an Archdale police officer shot him to death after pulling him over on Interstate 85.

The questions that investigators and those who knew Smith are wondering is: Did Smith commit suicide by cop by trying to make the officer think he was going for a gun or did the officer misinterpret an innocent action by Smith, then shoot and kill him when there was no actual danger?

A toxicology report that was also released with the autopsy indicated that Smith had a blood ethanol content of 220 mg/dL, meaning his blood alcohol level was approximately .22, nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

Benzodiazepine, used in drugs such as Valium or Xanax, was not detected in his blood, according to the report.

On the night he died, Smith was driving on I-85 when he called 911 and told a dispatcher he was trying to kill himself. He asked her to send a law enforcement officer. He told her he had been drinking, had a handgun in his back pocket and was driving at a high rate of speed.

When law enforcement officers located him and pulled him over near Archdale, 911 recordings indicated Smith got out of his vehicle, then said something about needing to get something. An officer yelled that Smith was getting back into the vehicle, and within a second or two, the officer shot Smith.

A recording of two 911 calls indicate that Officer J.P. Flinchum fired the shots shortly after stopping Smith’s car at the Exit 108 off I-85.

Law enforcement officers at the scene did not find a gun.

That autopsy report also lists alcohol and depression as contributing conditions to his death.

“Young student had commented to friends on [date of death] + before about possible suicidal ideation,” the report stated.

In his medical history, alcoholism and depression were check-marked.

The brief narrative of a report titled “Report of Investigation by Medical Examiner,” which was signed by Gordon B. Arnold of Guilford County, stated: “He got out of the car + made a suggestive move toward his pocket which the police interpreted as a move to get a gun,” the report said. “They then fired on him + he was hit in abd/chest + dropped down.”

The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation into the shooting to determine whether the officer’s actions were justified. The results of that investigation have not been released.

Smith was 21 and had just returned to Chapel Hill for the start of the school year. He was from Houston.

Another autopsy report, conducted at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill on Aug. 24, stated that he died of four gunshot wounds from a .357 police handgun.