Autopsy shows man killed by Raleigh police on I-440 was not intoxicated, despite witness reports

Raleigh police responded to a crash involving Daniel Turcios and his family. When officers arrived, they found Turcios had a knife in his hand and was upset, according to body camera footage reviewed by WRAL News.

Body camera shows man killed by Raleigh police swinging knife at officers after being shocked by Taser

Turcios was shot in the chest, torso and right thigh, according to his autopsy. No substances were in his bloodstream aside from nicotine and caffeine, the report states.

Activists and the family of Turcios said that his death was entirely preventable.

"My family is destroyed. They destroyed my family," said Rosa Jerez, Turcios' wife at a press conference in January. "It's not fair to see my children suffering. It's not fair for me to suffer every day. And suffer for what? For something that should not have happened."

Lee Turner, an attorney representing some of the officers involved in the incident, said that the officers acted as they were trained to do.

"These officers used the appropriate amount of force, and it was used at the correct time," Turner said. "Each time shots were fired, he had a knife in his hand and he was in an offensive posture toward the officers."

“We must think outside the law," he said. "Just because it is justifiable in the eyes of the law, preservation of life should always be held to the highest standard," he said.

Pittman said officers should have let him walk away from the scene for a moment and cool off before shooting him.

"Not only was he in a crisis, his family was in a crisis as well," Pittman said.

Pittman accused the Raleigh Police Department of creating a "narrative" that Turcios was a "villian."

"This vindicates his name in a way that this was not a drunk man wielding a knife. This was a man who was disoriented having a crisis," he said.