Ferguson Cop Darren Wilson reveals why he shot Missouri black teenager

August 16, 2014 We know precious little about the white cop, sergeant Darren Wilson, who shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. It is remarkable, in the age of social media, that so few details have emerged about the man who stands front and center in the living room of millions as an incarnation of American racism.

Sargent Darren Wilson of Ferguson, Missouri police depatment Sargent Darren Wilson of Ferguson, Missouri police department

There are no publicly available photos of Wilson. There are no detailed versions of what happened that day from Wilson or his allies. There are no lawyers, no union representatives, no officials from the city of Ferguson, no friends or family, which have publicly said anything about the man behind the cop, Darren Wilson. We do not know the human story of the small town white cop who is being vilified worldwide as a racist. Nor do we know his version of events of what transpired. But we do know this: Black teenager Michael Brown is dead and officer Darren Wilson’s life will never be the same, regardless of the facts. Officer Wilson represents a legitimate something. But that doesn’t mean he is that same something. Who is officer Darren Wilson? On Monday, the morning after the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, Wilson’s father, John Wilson, posted a Facebook status message: “Dear FB friends, Our family is in need for prayers to be sent up for a family member. Circumstances do not allow for us to say anything further. Please pray with our family in mind. Put a covering of protection over our family member please.” Officer Wilson’s father’s Facebook account has since been shut down.

Officer Wilson's father Facebook page congratulating his son on his award for "extraordinary service" by Ferguson Police earlier this year Officer Wilson’s father Facebook page congratulating his son on his award for “extraordinary service” by Ferguson Police earlier this year

Here is what we do know about Sargent Darren Wilson. He is a white American citizen. Public records show Darren Wilson to be now 28 years old. Wilson has a sister and a half-brother. His father, John Wilson, lives in St Peters, Missouri, and runs a landscaping business. Darren Wilson’s mother, Tonya Durso, died when Wilson was 16 and she was 35. Her life was not going well. I have the name and phone numbers and addresses of his siblings, his step father, his stepmother, his ex-wife, his grandparents, and others, along with their places of work, but frankly, I don’t feel comfortable, nor do I feel it relevant, to make them public and ruin their lives. Officer Darren Wilson grew up a peripatetic life but emerged out of St Peters, Missouri, a largely white suburb of St Louis, where his father still lives. In 2010, St. Peters was 91.7% white and only 3.7% black. Officer Wilson was an honor roll student at St. Charles High School in 9th and 10th grade, during a period of considerable family turmoil when his mother experienced major legal difficulties. He has worked as a police officer, since the age of 22, for the past six years–in Ferguson for four years and for two years previously as an officer in the nearby Jennings, Missouri police department. Wilson has no prior disciplinary record and was recognized for “extraordinary effort in the line of duty” in February. Public records show Wilson was divorced last year in St. Charles County, Missouri after two years of marriage. There were no children. He now lives with a fellow Ferguson police officer, Barbara Spradling, in Crestwood, Missouri, a town of 11,000 people about 18 miles southwest of overwhelmingly black Ferguson. Crestwood, according to public records, is 94 per cent white and 1.6 per cent black. His mother, Tonya Durso, had a considerable history of difficulties. She had three children by two different fathers. While it may seem unseemly to air the family laundry in public for the same reasons that people object to the release of selective information regarding Michael Brown, regardless, here are some facts about officer Wilson’s impressionable years when he was the age of Michael Brown. Perhaps it will allow for those necessary gray areas in all of our lives to position themselves in the forefront of this national debacle, before we personalize the debate of the killing in Ferguson. According to public records, in 1998 Wilson’s mother pleaded guilty to six counts of forgery and one count of stealing at the 11th Judicial Court in St Louis.

Gravestone of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson's mother, who died at the age of 35 when he was 16 Gravestone of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson’s mother, who died at the age of 35 when he was 16

She was convicted of financial crimes, and at the time of her death in 2002, she was on parole from Washington County, Missouri. At the time of her death, she stood accused of similar crimes– stealing people’s identities, taking out fraudulent loans, credit card debt, and other scams bilking people out of substantial sums of money when. She did not serve any time in jail, according to Missouri public records. But she did declare bankruptcy in October 2002, and within weeks, she was dead, on November 18th of that year. At the time of her death, she was under investigation for similar offenses. This is the only speculation in this article: There are suggestions that Officer Wilson’s mother’s life was so tragic, when the police officer was 16 years old, that she killed herself. Ferguson, Missouri, where Darren Wilson works, has very different racial demographics than where officer Wilson grew up or lives now. In 1990, Ferguson was 73.8% white and only 25.1% black, but by the time Wilson began working in Ferguson in 2010, the white population had plummeted to 29.3% while the black population sharply increased to 67.4%. Of the 52 members of the Ferguson police force, only 3 are black.

Sargent Darren Wilson of Ferguson Missouri in February, 2014 Sunday night : The day after Sargent Wilson shot Michael Brown

On Friday, officer Wilson’s girlfriend, fellow Ferguson police officer Barbara Spradling, either personally called in or authorized the public version of Ferguson police Sergeant Darren Wilson’s story of what happened around noon on August 9, 2014. A caller to the “The Dana Show: The Conservative Alternative” FMNewsTalk 97.1, St. Louis, Missouri Friday, on Friday August 15, 2014 has been identified as being phoned in from telephone numbers associated with officer Wilson. Here is the verbatim transcript: The Dana Show: I want to go to the phones and take, and I don’t know, this is a–the person on the line. It says ‘Josie’ on my call screener, but she has been identified, and I had our call screener talking to her, is a friend of Darren Wilson, the officer that was involved with this. Good afternoon to you. Thanks for calling in. “Friend” of Ferguson Police Sgt. Darren Wilson: Thanks you very much The Dana Show: So you said you are a friend of the officer that was identified by the police as being involved in the Michael Brown situation. Give me your aspect on this because now your friend’s name, this officer’s name, is out there. Talk a little bit to this. Sgt. Wilson “Friend”: Okay. Well it has been really, really hard to be quiet because I do know his version of the story and I haven’t, it seems like everyone only talking about the other side and I understand they haven’t really gotten to hear this side, um, and I have been afraid to say anything. I think we all are. All his friend and family but i just feel like I just need to put out there his version of events so people can consider them as the truth, if nothing else.” The Dana Show: OK Sgt. Wilson “Friend”: You want me to kinda run down…I mean…. The Dana Show: Yes, yes, absolutely Sgt. Wilson “Friend”: Okay. So he said that they, you know, um, they were walking in the middle of the street and he rolled his window down and, you know, said “Come on guys out of the street.” Um, they refused to, and were yelling back and saying: “We are almost where we are going.” There was some cussing involved, um, and then he just kept rolling up and he pulled over, and I believe, at that point, he called for a backup but I am not sure. But I know he pulled up ahead of them and he was watching them and then gets the call-in that there was a strong-arm robbery, and they get the description, and he was looking at them and they got something in their hands that looks like it could be, what, you know, those cigars or whatever, so he goes in reverse back to them and tries to get out of his car and they slam his door shut violently–I think he said Michael did–then he opened his car again and tries to get out. and as he stands up, Michael just bum rushes him, just shoves him back into the car, and punches him in the face, and then of course Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabs the gun. At one point he has the gun totally turned against his hip and Darren, you know, shoves it away and the gun goes off. Well then Michael takes off with his friend and he gets about 35 feet away and, um, you know, Darren–of course protocol is to pursue–so he stands up and yells: “Freeze!” Um, Michael and his friend turn around and Michael starts taunting him: “Oh what are you going to do about it?”, you know, “You are not going to shoot me!” And then, he said, all of a sudden he just started to bum rush him. He just started coming at him full speed, and so he just started shooting, and he just kept coming. So he really thinks he was on something, um, because he just kept coming. It was unbelievable.

Photo taken of Officer Wilson standing beside the dead body of Michael Brown Photo taken of Officer Wilson standing beside the dead body of Michael Brown

And then–so he finally ended up, the final shot was in the forehead, and then he fell about 2 or 3 feet in front of the officer. So that is why the stories are going around that “Oh, he was shot execution style.” I think some people saw, you know, the shots to his head. Of course ballistics will prove he wasn’t shot in the back like the other people are saying that quote unquote when this (sic). But that’s, um, that is his version of what happened.

The Dana Show: So can I ask how did you come by this information, is this something that you, did you have discussions with the family? How did you come to know the details of it? Sgt. Wilson “Friend”: Um, it was with his, um, significant other who told me. It was before it was such a huge, you know. It was Sunday night, before the riots, so, you know, it was when they were still on Facebook and everyone was still talking, you know, it was kinda an open discussion, about at that point, and of course, we had no idea it would turn into this. The Dana Show: Right. Is his family, are they in town? Have they left town? Sgt. Wilson “Friend”: They have not been in contact with anyone since Tuesday morning The Dana Show: I appreciate you calling in and giving that perspective. Thank you so much Sgt. Wilson “Friend”: Yes. Thank you. The Dana Show: That individual is a person who claims they are friends with the officer involved in the Mike Brown shooting, Darren Wilson, so again, when the investigation is concluded and more details are released–and earlier this morning the incident report was released–all of that is going to come out……….That was an interesting account. And I don’t know, you know that caller said they were friends with Darren Wilson and speaking to their significant other and that was how she got those details. You always have to be very careful in situations like that about, you don’t want to say that definitely was a friend, or it was definitely, but, it will be interesting to see, if when the investigation concludes, if all those details that she just gave matches up with what comes out of the investigation……” There are a lot of discrepancies between the account of officer Wilson and eyewitnesses’ to the shooting. Speculation is rampant. We will know the truth eventually, despite the efforts of interested parties to obfuscate them to manipulate popular opinion.

-- The narrative says that at first he did not stop Brown because he thought they were suspects. IT was only after he started to leave that he heard something on the radio about a robbery ... --

I will admit to not following the details of the incident very closely, but you make an important distinction as to precise timing of Wilson's awareness of the strongarm robbery.

The account presented here is the most detailed one I've seen. My vague impression has been that the police made a point of saying Wilson didn't know about the robbery (period). I'm not sure that's what they actually said, or if it was qualified as "robbery wasn't the reason to tell them to get out of the middle of the street - although that's sort of a "duh, no kidding" point. If the initial request to brown was to get out of the middle of the street, it seems rather obvious that Wilson didn't suspect Brown of anything other than walking in the middle of the street.

What mistake did George Z make? Try as he did to screw his case up, and as much of an idiot he was afterwards, he was acquitted and remains free. Poor judgement, but didn’t make a mistake (at least an objectively consequential one).

The police chief was asked repeatedly if Wilson knew of the robbery. He said that he didn’t know. I think the narrative suggusts that he didn’t stop the two kids because he knew of the robbery. There is some indication from the narrative that Wilson some time later, within a minute or two may have heard on the scanner that there was a robbery.

One thing for SURE, Brown was aware of the robbery. He had just committed it. He didn’t know if Wilson knew.

“...Unless he’s a saint they will make him out to be the biggest racist since Adolph Hitler.”

If the facts prove the story as told from the cop’s friend’s POV, his feelings about race would make no difference in the outcome.

I used to agree with you, but by chance do you follow tournement fishing? Everyone who takes prize money takes a lie detector test. So explain that one to me.

It's not a court of law. Lie detectors aren't infallible. They can be fooled willingly and they can also give inconclusive results results on answers. The Supreme Court has identified standards that scientific evidence must meet and a polygraph doesn't meet them. The military court system won't accept them as evidence under any circumstances, and most state courts ban them as evidence as well.

An interesting drill, but I would say that on his signal he takes off running, not yours. Simulate surprise a bit better, but still not great because you are already set to take a course of action.

I once shot with a guy that was IDF trained and still living in Israel, just visiting the states. An interesting experience. His son (12ish) was being instructed by his dad in the riot-control tactics in which dad was trained. And I just stood there and soaked it up. He knew his son was going to serve in a few years, and was prepping him for that day...it was a great afternoon at the range...

It is looking to me more like suicide by cop: obscure social media posting just prior, petty crime that was sure to draw cops, walking down the middle of the street right after the crime. If he was not out to challenge a cop, why not lay low after shoplifting? I have seen too many times blacks walking in the road when s perfectly good sidewalk was present. But rarely walking in the middle of the road as if to challenge the right of way. Sounds like he really wanted the attention of police.

Setting the truth aside, which is what will happen, Darren Wilson does not stand a chance of a normal life, he may be sacrificed to quell the lust for revenge, even though the sacrifice will do nothing.

We don’t know the truth yet, but those who work in the police department know, I believe Wilson’s story, just as I did Zimmermans story when it was first told, the truth you can’t just make up, like you can a lie.

This is how small towns in Maine, with 3% African-American population, wind up with an African-American Police Chief ... usually some Affirmative Action idiot who was cashiered in a big-city PD... but with a big settlement. Nation-wide search, hefty fee to the search firm ... get us a black school superintendent while we're at it, and maybe an Hispanic Fire Chief.

Insightful Kenny... thanks for sharing.

I agree. Buddy initiates the drill. That's how we did it in the day too... forgot about that. I talk very plainly to my two boys. We play with Nerf guns all the time and they have already learned the basics of a tactical entry and bounding overwatch. They think they are simply having fun, but they are also learning great skills. They completely annihilate the neighborhood kids when they get together with everyone in our commons area. Fun to watch them slice the pie and what not. Good boys and they definately know about muzzle control. The oldest swept Mama with his Nerf sniper rifle and she had that boy pushing the ground until he darned near puked.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.