A pathologist hired by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) concluded that Detroit Imam Luqman Abdullah suffered numerous bites on his face and upper body from an FBI canine before agents shot and killed Abdullah last October.
He also suffered a broken jaw, CAIR's Michigan chapter announced Wednesday.
Abdullah fired his gun as agents moved in to arrest him on conspiracy and weapons charges. Arresting agents returned fire, hitting him 20 times in the torso and legs. Since then, CAIR has waged a campaign to cast the shooting as excessive or otherwise flawed.
Dr. Cyril Wecht's report is based on pictures from an earlier autopsy performed by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, not an examination of the actual body. CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid said it was possible Abdullah shot his gun trying to protect himself from the dog.
Going in, FBI agents considered Abdullah "armed and dangerous" and noted that he has "espoused the use of violence against law enforcement, and has trained members of his group in use of firearms and martial arts in anticipation of some type of action against the government."
Greg Stejskal, who served 21 years on an FBI SWAT team, told the IPT that FBI canines are trained to "do what is necessary to do" to subdue a subject and "presumably that would include biting the subject." He noted that "the dog will stop as soon as he is commended to do so by his handler."
Wecht told the Detroit Free Press that he questions why the Wayne County Medical Examiner did not include the dog bites and lacerations in its autopsy report. He also wonders why the imam did not receive emergency medical assistance. Wecht made sure to clarify that he isn't biased toward CAIR. "I happen to be Jewish. … I'm not speaking here as a pro-Islamic terrorist supporter… or anything like that. I'm not coming in here with a biased eye," he said.
Walid again called on the Department of Justice to do an independent investigation of the shooting and asked that the FBI and Michigan police release any other information regarding the case, including videotapes.
The Detroit FBI has said that its agents acted appropriately in the raid.