BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquette@heraldsun.com ; 918-1042

CHAPEL HILL -- Reversing itself on what had appeared to be some key, if aggressively disputed, findings, the N.C. Medical Examiner's Office released a revised copy of an investigative report Thursday into the death of Courtland Smith. The late president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity was shot to death by an Archdale police officer during a traffic stop in late August.

The original report, which was a preliminary report signed by Gordon B. Arnold, the medical examiner in Randolph and Guilford counties, said that Smith had a history of depression, alcoholism and had previously talked to friends about the idea of suicide.

The revised report is the same report, but portions of it have been crossed out or changed, including the handwritten narrative that Smith had commented to friends about possible suicidal ideas.

DKE released a short statement Thursday afternoon in response to the changes on the report.

"We are pleased that the Chief State Medical Examiner has amended Courtland Smith's autopsy report and deleted statements that did not accurately reflect the behavior of the man we knew prior to the early morning of his tragic death," the statement read.

Smith died in the early morning hours of Aug. 23 after he left Chapel Hill and drove south on I-85 heading towards Charlotte. He called 911 as he was passing through Guilford County and asked the dispatcher to send a law enforcement officer to drive with him. He told the dispatcher that he was trying to kill himself, that he had a 9 mm gun in his back pocket, he had been drinking and was driving about 95 miles per hour.

An Archdale police officer pulled Smith over on an exit ramp, and Smith reportedly got out of his vehicle. The officer then reported Smith was getting back into his vehicle, and within seconds, an officer had fired four shots into Smith, mortally wounding him.

The autopsy report written by Arnold said that Smith "made a suggestive move toward his pocket, which the police interpreted as a move to get a gun."

When the original autopsy report came out, Smith's brothers at the DKE fraternity objected to the handwritten narrative by Arnold that said Smith had "commented to friends on D.O.D (date of death)... about possible suicidal ideas."

They released their own statement, saying they were dumbfounded by the wording in the report.

"We are not sure where he heard that Courtland had discussed suicide with his friends," the statement said. "No one we have talked with has mentioned any such conversations. We are also unaware of any history of depression; on the contrary, Courtland was cheerful and optimistic."

On the revised report, under probable cause of death, "GSW (gunshot wound) to ABD/chest and the words "assault," "alcohol, depression," have been crossed out.

Under medical history, the words alcoholism and depression had previously been checked, but now also were crossed out, and a note was added that said, "*no prior history of depression or alcoholism."

And on the narrative, where the words that he had talked about suicide had been crossed out, at the bottom of the page, someone wrote: "*He called 911 indicating that he had a 9 mm gun and was considering suicide, only while he was driving. There is no evidence that prior to this he had expressed suicidal thoughts or intent."

Each change was initialized with the letters, OCME, standing for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.