Posted on 08/16/2014 12:44:06 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Chief of the Ferguson Police Department now says officer Darren Wilson realized that he might be talking to suspects in a strong-armed robbery when he encountered 18-year-old Michael Brown and his friend, just before the incident in which Wilson fatally shot Brown.
Jackson had told reporters Friday afternoon that Wilson stopped Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, because they pair were walking down the street and blocking traffic, but did not know Brown was identified as a suspect in the robbery in which a box of cigars was stolen.
Jackson has since told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Wilson saw cigars in Brown’s hand and realized Brown might be the suspect.
Witnesses and police differ in their accounts of what happened next. Police say Brown and Wilson struggled for the officer’s gun before Brown was shot. Witnesses say Brown was shot while his arms were raised in surrender.
Brown’s family accuses Jackson and police of trying to slander Brown’s name in the public eye by releasing information on the robbery, and a related surveillance video, at the same time Wilson’s name was released.
See our earlier story on the identification of Wilson and the robbery information, including video
Jackson denies the timing of those releases was strategic, and says he released the video and incident reports because media outlets had requested them under the Freedom of Information Act. He says the Department has now released all the information it can.
Many, including the family’s attorneys and some protesters, say the robbery is irrelevant to the shooting incident and still doesn’t explain what happened when Brown and his friend encountered Wilson.
Brown’s family is pleading for peace and asking those reacting to the shooting or today’s release of information not to riot, after some protests in the past few days have turned violent including property damage and looting.
Arms raised? You actually saw that and/or believe those witnesses? Having some experience with witnesses, (particularly those who are of the race of Brown), I have great suspicion to the accountability of such information as they would provide.
To be slander it can’t be true. How can a video showing what he actually did be slander?
First Trayvon Martin, now this guy, always some violent thug they choose to riot for.
“Might” have realized?
Thanks for nothing, d#psh!t.
I’m very interested in what the toxicology report is going to show in the ‘Gentle Giant’s’ system.
They are going to do one aren’t they?
I’m betting he was strung out on meth or steroids.
Arms raised? You actually saw that and/or believe those witnesses?
...I think he was expressing his skepticism of that possibility...
There is another cell phone video out there taken at the scene after the shooting. While the video isn't all that relevant, a witness conversation that was recorded taking place off camera pretty much corroborates the officer's version of events. Ferguson PD has been notified of the video's existence because it will likely be taken down, once it's relevance becomes known.
Good point!
When the chief said the officer didn't know Brown had robbed a store, maybe he meant the officer didn't realize Brown himself was the suspect. But the officer would've heard the call.
And if Brown believed he was about to be arrested for the crime, that would explain why he pushed the officer. Seeing how he had no compunction about taking what he wanted and pushing a store owner out of his way, it's not difficult to believe he did the same thing to a police officer if he thought he was about to be arrested.
Do you have a link to that video (before it disappears)?
Thank you. It sounds like that side conversation starts around 6 minutes into the video. I’ll try to transcribe it if no one else has.
FTR, I can understand and sympathize with the people in that video. They didn’t see what happened. They heard shots and came outside, and a young man was lying shot in the middle of the street. You can hear the rumors spreading already in that video that “his hands were up, and they shot him anyway.”
There’s NO excuse for anyone to riot and loot, but it’s understandable why the people who didn’t see what happened were upset and how the rumors started.
Side conversation begins around 6:12.
[?] = unable to hear/understand
Note: Unable to distinguish between speakers.
That’s the one that ran behind this right here. Because he ran up there, where we [?], where we live at.
[?] when I came outside, all I seen was [?] in the [truck? trunk?] right there [?]. I don’t know what happened, [?].
[Crosstalk]
How’d he get from there to here?
[Crosstalk]
‘Cause he ran. Police were still in the truck.
They came this way?
[Crosstalk]
Why his body come this way though?
[Crosstalk]
[?] He was like over the [truck? trunk?] [?] he ran. Police got out and ran after him. [Crosstalk] And next thing I know, he’s coming back toward the [truck? trunk?]
[Crosstalk]
Police had to run.
Oh, the police [?].
This is not a good transcription. Maybe someone else can hear more than I can. This doesn’t tell us much, but it might back up what the officer is claiming - that Brown was in the patrol car (the truck?) and then ran back toward the police for some reason? I don’t know...
Most witnesses are unreliable and in these cases we have repeatedly seen that they have an agenda. Forensic evidence is the best way to get at the truth.
She said, like dorian johnson, that the 175 lb sitting officer was trying to pull the 300 lb standing brown into the vehicle on top of him through the window or open door.
That obviously makes no sense at all.
If she is being truthful and did see it she probably saw the original assault and the fight for the gun and interpreted what she had seen to fit the narrative.
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