My Autopsy Initiative with Kaepernick Prepared Me For This

Written by Ben Meiselas

I wanted to share with you the story of how I created a non-profit program with Colin Kaepernick that provides free autopsies to families who lost a loved one due to police actions. This story demonstrates how we can think outside the box to create new structures and institutions that confront the challenges Americans and the world face today. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

So, here’s what happened. Before I co-founded MeidasTouch, I was a civil rights litigator. I represented families in wrongful death cases, catastrophic injury cases, and police brutality cases, where often a family member was killed. What I learned in representing families who lost a loved one in a police shooting or other excessive force incident was that family members struggled to find out the cause of death from the county or city coroner. Family members were often blocked or severely delayed from getting the autopsy report. Then, even when the family got the report, it was often incomplete, had errors, or contained information that seemed suspicious. The family members did not know what their rights were if they couldn’t access the autopsy reports, and thus, many families couldn’t retain lawyers if they couldn’t even explain what happened. Also, family members were caused great distress not knowing what happened to their loved ones when often the only public narrative of what happened came from the police and the government.

One of the things I learned in my law practice is that in many counties, the coroner and the sheriff are the same person. The coroner is often known as the sheriff-coroner. Also, many cities outsource their autopsies to the sheriff-coroner. Given the fentanyl and synthetic drug epidemic, many coroners are backlogged for months in preparing autopsy reports. Also, when the sheriff and the coroner are the same people, this creates a situation where the autopsies are not independent. The sheriff may seek to provide a cause of death for a victim that protects the officer.

For example, I had a case in Bakersfield where a person was strangled by the police and a K9 bit the victim's leg, causing death by pulmonary embolism, but the coroner reported the death as being caused by obesity, drug use, and resisting arrest. I took the deposition of the sheriff-coroner in that case and got him to admit what really happened. We prevailed, and the family settled the case.

With this knowledge, Colin Kaepernick (a client and friend) and I wanted to do something about this. We wanted to get families the answers they desperately needed when a loved one died at the hands of the police. Knowledge is power. One of the things I was familiar with was the idea of a second autopsy from a private forensic pathologist. The problem is that second autopsies with reports from private forensic pathologists can cost up to $10,000. Most families can’t afford this.

So, Kaepernick and I put our heads together, and we created what became known as the Autopsy Initiative. We brought in the top forensic pathologists in the world and got them to agree to a discounted flat rate to perform second, independent autopsies. We created detailed protocols for linking families going through the biggest tragedy in their life with the pathologists. We had to deal with logistics of transporting the body, working with funeral homes, ensuring the independence of reports, delivering news to grieving families, and raising money to fully subsidize the cost so all families who applied to the program would get a second autopsy for free.

This Autopsy Initiative started as an idea for a novel problem and is now a thriving program. Sports Illustrated chronicled our efforts here.

The reason I wanted to share this story with you is because I want you to think about your unique life experiences. Are you an accountant? Are you a chef? A teacher? A waiter? A salesperson? A dancer? A writer? What are your hobbies? What is some unique knowledge you possess? Think about it after reading this. The same way I had unique knowledge about the lack of transparency in autopsies in police cases, think about a problem you know about where you can create a solution.

Now, the fact you are reading this leads me to believe you are a member of the Meidas Mighty. That means you are already connected to a network of millions of people who can help amplify your ideas and plans. Think hard about how to turn your plan into a structure that creates and helps the lives of people.

During these difficult times, we will need to be scrappy. We will need to create new programs and structures that don’t yet exist. That may be in relation to mass deportations or other plans by Trump. Don’t be discouraged if your ideas don’t immediately take off. It took us over a year to launch the Autopsy Initiative with different starts and stops. Heck, when MeidasTouch started, our audience consisted of about 5 people who were mostly our family members.

I am confident you possess the skills to make a difference during these times. Believe in yourself. I believe in you.

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