Autopsy photos of Khalil Ahmad Azad, 24, of Buffalo, who died following a police pursuit in Robbinsdale, Minnesota last summer, have gone viral after his mother decided to make them public. After seeing the extremely graphic pictures, many people on social media have concluded that Azad died as a result of police brutality and not accidental drowning, as the Hennepin County Medical Examiner concluded.
On July 3, Azad was intoxicated while driving. The police suspected him of drunk driving and attempted to pull him over. He drove the SUV until he crashed near Crystal Lake. He ran from the car, and officers searched for him for more than an hour. Eventually, Azad’s body was found two days later in the lake. Azad’s family and several social justice organizations plan to conduct an independent autopsy after activists raised allegations that police beat him to death.
A similar conclusion was drawn by social media users after seeing the photos. Due to the extremely graphic nature of the photos, Opoyi has not included the same in this article.
Here are a few reactions from social media to the autopsy photos:
Let s talk about #KhalilAzad TW for this thread: His mother made his autopsy photos public. Khalil Azad was beaten beyond recognition by police in Robbinsdale Minnesota. His death was ruled a drowning but K9 bites, dreads ripped from his scalp, & detached jaw clearly show diff. pic.twitter.com/IAx0X0zdds
— Carolina⚜️Conjuress (@CarolinaConjure) March 6, 2023
khalil azad’s autopsy picture has me in SHAMBLES! I pray they get justice for that man, it’s sickening!
— myaj. (@therealdealmya_) March 7, 2023
I saw #KhalilAzad 's autopsy photos of his face and its nightmare fuel. No way that man died of "accidental drowning", even from the untrained eye, he was obviously beaten to death. And bitten by dogs or something. Shudder. 21st century Emmitt Till in MN wtf #BlackTwitter
— NoMo X | BLACK LIVES MATTER (@MizFahrenheit) March 3, 2023
In the autopsy photos, Azad’s face looks swollen from what his family alleges was a beating by police officers. There were also parts of his body that appeared bloated. “We want to know what exactly happened to Kahlil Ahmad Azad on the night of July 3rd, 2022,” the statement says.
The police have released the body-worn camera footage from three officers who responded after calls for more transparency in the case. The body and squad camera footage do not show what spurred the police pursuit. Following the crash, Officer Tony Heifort is heard saying the vehicle was moving erratically. “He flipped a [U-turn] and was just driving all over the road,” he said in the recording.
Azad’s family and the organizations wrote that there was no reason for the police to chase Azad. “Khalil Ahmad Azad was in fact suffering from driving while black,” the statement said. “We believe there was no probable cause for Robbinsdale police to initially pursue Khalil, he had not broken any laws while driving.”
