Autopsy finds lacerations, bullet wounds on man shot by sheriff’s deputy

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The Napavine man fatally shot by a Lewis County sheriff’s deputy early Thursday had superficial cuts on the side of his neck and on one wrist but he died from gunshot wounds to his head and stomach, according to the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

Gregory S. Kaufman, 64, was pronounced dead at the scene off the side of state Route 6 after an encounter with Deputy Matt Wallace around 12:15 a.m.

Wallace said when he approached the parked car near Boistfort to see if the driver needed assistance, a heavily bleeding man lunged out of his vehicle with a large knife, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

Few other details have been released; the sheriff’s office says more information will come from an investigation conducted by a team of deputies from surrounding counties.

Coroner Warren McLeod said yesterday the autopsy determined the lacerations did not contribute to Kaufman’s death.

Wallace, a nine year member of the sheriff’s office, is on paid administrative leave as is standard procedure, according to the sheriff’s office.

Sixteen months ago when another Lewis County deputy fatally shot a citizen, it was about a week and a half later when the prosecutor completed his review of the outside investigation as to whether the shooting was justified.

An internal investigation was completed about a week after that.

In that case, Deputy Matt McKnight was cleared, but the family of 33-year-old Steven V. Petersen has recently filed a lawsuit saying McKnight engaged in a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach to law enforcement.
•••

For background, read “Deputy fatally shoots Napavine man on state Route 6” from Thursday November 1, 2012 at 8:30 a.m., here

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41 Responses to “Autopsy finds lacerations, bullet wounds on man shot by sheriff’s deputy”

  1. Huh? says:

    I like the way that GB put it.

    MC – no worries, we ALL get a little worked up from time to time! I’m glad that you are not leaving the herd. 🙂

    I appreciate the comments section. Thanks Sharyn for providing it.

  2. “Friend’ You are so right it is the police training that is killing We the People.

  3. MorningCoffee says:

    @ Huh and GuiltyBystander – thank you for talking me down and saving my from being sucked into the abyss. I am over my hissy fit and primed to resist the temptation to respond to nonsensical rants.

  4. sunshinegirl says:

    Shannon , Please accept my prayers and thoughts for your family this is a sad sad ending and my heart goes out to you , and yours.

  5. friend says:

    My heart goes out to the family of the deceased 64 year old man. Please, remember that the truth is NOT always told or revealed in the police released facts. Let us not forget the feelings of the family and just how tragic this is for them. Police proceedures are taught to these officers; they need to be retrained! The “Suicide by Cop” is becoming Lewis Countys’ motto….. This person was killed by irresponsible teachings and methods of para military training.

  6. Shannon says:

    I am his family I come forward to tell you people that my dad was a good man, Vicky Henthorn should be charged with reporting a false crime, she helped destroy my dads life and now he’s dead. I was notified via facebook 4 days after the incident. Please don’t call him a dead beat he had a hard life and was scared of his own shadow, he was a great dad and grandfather to my children.

  7. George says:

    @ sunshinegirl, you got a good point LOL

  8. Concerned says:

    Ok, now I’m confused. Are you the dirty cop enforcer or dirt cop enforcer? Hey, Davey Boy, I have an idea that just registered…you should run for city council!!! That would show them! As long as you don’t have any felony convictions I think you’re eligible!!! Do it man, your fan base is huge!!!

  9. sunshinegirl says:

    George , ya gotta laugh , what else can you do with a person who compares himself to that group. Priceless is not the word I would use but ya gotta hang in there with us George . We’ve waited him out before and we are a community , we will wait this nonesense out too. Just hang in there.

  10. George says:

    DCE, I’m not the topic of this thread. Don’t make it about me. Don’t make it about yourself, either.

    And I am not hiding behind a screen name. My name IS George. I don’t care what yours is. nor do I care about your “cause.”

    I DO care about having a community that I can be proud to belong to. Any community you are in would not be one to be proud of.

  11. George looking back on your comment history, I see you as having a problem with everyone. The fact is everyone knows who I am. Everyone else hides behind fake screen names. People hate me because they see a success and a person that has a real affect on the community. And no it’s not about me, it’s about waking up the Herd. My knowledge is priceless…. All the negative comments only fuel my fire. My web-site gets thousands of views daily. So I know what I’m doing is right. No one else in this community has ever made a stand except for people like Joseph Salzar, George Washington, and Wesley Everrest And now the Dirt Cop Enforcer is making history in Centralia wa.

  12. Guilty Bystander says:

    It makes no sense to bail on this website because one or two people are being continual pains in the backside via their responses. Sharyn scoops The Chronicle on a regular basis and her reportage is at least as accurate. Remember her coverage of the Ron Reynolds trial last year? She was getting stuff the mainstream press wasn’t.

    Don’t like DCE or someone else? The solution is simple: Don’t respond to them (or don’t read the responses at the bottom of the story). Just as we have the right to our opinions, we also have the right to pay no attention to someone else’s point of view.

  13. Huh? says:

    Would it be right to leave the reporting that Sharyn does just because one cannot read the name on the comment section? DCE has just as much right to comment as we do, but it’s up to the reader to do that – read it or not. DCE will keep up his comments as long as people keep reading and commenting to him. If he’s ignored, he should just go away. If he doesn’t go away, it makes it interesting for the new readers. I would personally be bummed if George and others leave, especially because of one or two people.

    DCE, whether or not your points have been valid, the initial tirades about fluoride (like the boy that committed suicide and it turned out the family did NOT use fluoride??) and continual put-downs on the police (you may think that you say that not all are bad, only a few, but you paint with a very broad brush when you bash them) have left many with to turn a blind eye to the rest of what you have to say. Maybe if you can be a little nicer you will get a more pleasant response?

  14. MorningCoffee says:

    Right on George! This whole website has been hijacked by DCE. It may be time to move on.

  15. “Semper Fi” Misandry ( /mɪˈsændri/) is the hatred or dislike of men or boys. Though the concept is ancient, the word did not appear in most dictionaries until the second half of the 20th century. It was commonly seen as a neologism in the early 1970s.[1] Misandry was formed from Greek misos (μῖσος, “hatred”) and anēr, andros (ἀνήρ, gen. ἀνδρός; “man”). Misandry is the antonym of philandry, the fondness, love, or admiration of men. The female counterpart of misandry is misogyny, the hatred or dislike of women.

    Thanks for the new word, I agree with you on the rapes in police custody. An officer was just sentenced to life for this crime. I’m not trying to piss no one off, I just want to leave a paper trail so I can spread the truth. The Police State is already here. I my self fear for my safety. I’m in too deep to stop now, I have to keep keeping on. I have pledged my life for the pursuit of Liberty and Justice.. Todays police are truly some scary people, I my self know this personaly. Semper Fi I am Awake! to the NWO

  16. George says:

    DCE, the effect you are having is quite the opposite of whatever it is you are intending, since a large number of people who read your posts see exactly what you are: an attention monger and a “professional victim.” You make EVERY story about YOU, and you go on rants about what YOU perceive to be persecution. You want people to be civil, yet ninety percent of what you post is attacks on people who are doing their jobs, or are attacks on those who support them in the job they are doing.

    This particular thread is no different. You have hijacked it to scream about your own plight, your own “struggles,” your own hatred of law enforcement.

    This thread is NOT about you, nor is it about anything to do with you. It has EVERYTHING to do with someone NOT listening to what the cop told him to do, with someone lurching out of a car late at night while carrying a deadly weapon and getting shot for their actions, and with the ongoing investigation into the actions of the officer involved and what may have led the deceased into the actions that led to his demise.

    Why not try to do something unique: Stay on topic, and keep your own problems to yourself.

  17. sunshinegirl says:

    Informed Citizen , thanks for speaking up . This is still a very sad ending to a troubled life . Some people aren’t interested in the truth but it is nice to see it is still out there.

  18. Come on everyone lets all start over and introduce ourselves. I’m David Low…. I call my self the dirty cop enforcer…It’s my screen name, so what…….. Now that I have made introductions.. let’s be civil from here on out…… Please follow suit….. Lewis County Sirens needs an upgrade on users names. I think a face book login in would be better…… Anyways thanks for everyones hate. It means I ‘m having an effect and that’s how you wake up a community…… Paul Revere would have been proud!

  19. Informed Citizen says:

    Long story short, I knew the deceased and have seen him get angry and violent before on multiple occasions. The way this had to end does not surprise me whatsoever. It’s easy to say that things could have gone differently when you don’t know what the person was like. Since I do, I support the officer’s decision 100%.

  20. sunshinegirl says:

    Semper Fi , I dont know what your problem is. I am an employed taxpayer who has never been arrested, and my father spent 21 years in the navy. I have three children and five Grandchildren none of which are incarcerated , or have ever been arrested. Two of my children are from Vietnam vets. I have owned my own homes and my occupation is to care for the disabled in their home.How does this qualify me as a low life ? I have put my safety and my life in the hands of Lewis Co. Law enforcement officers many times in 61 years ,so you know what? You can kiss my hillbillie, redheaded, redneck ass!!!

  21. Kyle says:

    DCE, your so called “video” is a joke and so are you. Have you been drinking flouride?

  22. Semper Fi says:

    “maybe he will get a life, or a job, or a girl (lol) and move on”

    So the Lewis County Lowlifes are resorting to misandry. Nice.

    Remind me to laugh the next time a woman does something to get “lawfully” groped, raped, or assaulted by a police officer.

    You people are above and beyond special. Keep on keepin on.

    He will never be like you. And that is one thing I can say and be 100% sure of honesty.

  23. sunshinegirl says:

    LC Citizen I like your style, but this idiot and his pitiful followers are not interested in the truth just their weird view. When he first started with the weird floride rant we all went through this so we just have to wait him out, maybe he will get a life, or a job, or a girl (lol) and move on , but it will always be the same for him.

  24. Citizen says:

    DCE, look up NARCASSISM and study on that for awhile.

  25. BobbyinLC says:

    I have just watched the video of DCE’s arrest on 03/03/11. Yikes it does explain a lot about his ravings on here.

  26. saysme says:

    I agree with Morning Coffee. Some sites will allow comments to be deleted by the community. Perhaps you should think about doing that, or a hide button, so it doesn’t show anymore, it isn’t going to stop DCE is using this site to grind his own agenda and does not care about anything else.

  27. Enforcer says:

    Dirty Cop Enforcer give us your phone number and when we have some one assaulting us we will call you dumb ass. Now remember you only have a few seconds to get there. And decide how you are going to talk this guy down or kiss his ass or what ever you decide. You are the Law now and have all of the ideas. Also did you tell your ma ma the police chocked you when you were resisting arrest. I would have chocked you until you passed out cry baby.

  28. Thinking Outloud says:

    DCE should have to pay for advertising on here……

  29. MorningCoffee says:

    DCE – everyone here is getting very tired of hearing your same rhetoric over and over and over again. Just do what you do on your own website.

    Sharyn – I really think that your website is in jeopardy of becoming irrelevant due to the incessant efforts of a few to “use” your site as a means to promote their own personal cause.

    I have a suggestion: when a comment morphs into someone “promoting” a cause and/or continually relating every story to his/her own issues, deem the comment inappropriate for publishing in this forum.

    I for one am very near going to a different source for local information.

  30. No one is egging the Cops On. I have captured Centralia Police telling me it is illegal to record them during a traffic stop. The Centralia Police have no complaint process to deal with corruption. So I am exposing them to the world. This is how you make a difference. If you dont like Constitutional Freedoms then your laying Down as an American…… None of you have read the police reports nor matched them up to the recordings. I want the officers involved that choked me on March 3rd 2011 held accountable. During an interagation I was told to take my videos down of the Centralia Police…..Now is that Fredom of speech…….No one is going to change my mind about these so called Law Men….Their the Criminals……Look at the video I posted on the firsst comment, then tell me cops are your friends…..

  31. Semper Fi says:

    “Semper… your ignorance is showing.”

    The man was shot twice. Once in the gut, and then another kill shot to the head.

    What exactly am I ignorant of?

  32. LC CITIZEN says:

    ( Of course “DCE” is the first to comment yet again on a news story involving police … )

    This entire situation is just another fine example of do as you are told by the police and you won’t get hurt. When you are told by Law Enforcement to stop, you drop whatever is in your hand and you take your hands out of your pockets. It’s as simple as that. They are simple commands that some people’s parents should have made a little clearer to their children growing up it seems. This man got out of his vehicle and lunged at the Deputy while having a knife in his hand. He came at the Deputy and after not stopping, the Deputy stopped the threat. This Deputy deserves to go home just as the rest of you and I do from our professions. This same scenario goes for the ridiculous lawsuit out of Napavine for the officer involved shooting from 2011. Had he just done what that Deputy told him, he’d still be alive today.

    I am sick and tired of reading these “victims” of police brutality BS go on and on about how Law Enforcement is so corrupt. Stop putting yourself into scenarios where you have to be contacted by Law Enforcement and if you are then don’t act like “DCE” and be an idiot on film and then egg them on. It’s ridiculous. Grow up. I’ve gone 30 plus years of my life without having anything worse than a simple speeding ticket. Get on with your lives people. Police are here to protect us. And don’t get me wrong, yes there are some bad ones, just like there are bad “corrupt” people in every other profession we see. Give it up! We don’t have a whole workforce of police in Lewis County out to get you like “DCE” wants you to think. Don’t be a criminal and you will have nothing to fear or worry about when it comes to local Law Enforcement.

    We should all feel so lucky to have the officers and deputies that do work here, out there protecting us all every single day and night.

  33. Mendez says:

    I have watched your video. It really tells me more about you than it does about them. Im surprised you keep pushing it.

    Free air…”ever consider…. ” No, they dont consider. They assume, judge, and push their own agendas.

  34. Free Air says:

    Ever consider that the first shot was in the body, but the attacker did not stop, thus another round to stop the attack???

  35. OMG watch the video I posted then tell me that cops are your friends….. Enough is Enough they must wear body Cameras we are sick of the Police Departments Lies………….. The Thin Blue Line has been crossed!

  36. Mendez says:

    Semper… your ignorance is showing.

  37. omg says:

    one of u cowards needs to spend one day as a cop with ur hands tied. how would u defend urself against cowards like u, whom hide behind a computer screen.

  38. Get it right... says:

    I sincerely hope the forensic pathologist did not use the term laceration for a hesitation cut on arm or neck. A laceration is a jagged wound, an incision is the type of wound done by a knife.

  39. Semper Fi says:

    Wow!!! Shot twice??

    The shot to the head wasn’t enough so the officer had to pump one more in his gut? WTF?

    Or what? The shot to the gut wasn’t enough so the officer had to execute the victim with a head-shot? WTF??

    What kind of training did this officer have? Mafia Hitman 101??

  40. chris says:

    According to Jim Fisher True Crime, Washington State is in the top 10 states for officer involved shooting deaths.

  41. Local Police do not have dash camera’s nor body camera’s….Watch this video about the cops… Then tell me if you think there telling the truth.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9vQ2x2uzWw&feature=related Should I say any more.. This video is the truth about what police will do to the Tax Slaves.