Posted on 08/16/2014 1:27:37 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The unarmed black teen whose fatal shooting by police in a St. Louis suburb sparked violent protests was a suspect in a robbery moments before, but the deadly encounter was not sparked by the robbery, the city's police chief said Friday.
Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson earlier Friday released documents alleging 18-year-old Michael Brown had been suspected of stealing a $48.99 box of cigars from a convenience store in a “strong-arm” robbery shortly before he was killed.
Jackson said at an afternoon press conference that Brown and his friend were stopped Saturday “because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
A friend of Officer Wilson phoned in a radio show yesterday with his story. According to the friend dispatch had just advised the officer about the strong arm robbery and he saw Brown walking down the street and accosted him. That’s when it got physical. Supposedly the fight for the cop’s gun ended in a shot being fired inside the patrol car and they found an empty casing in the car.
Description was broadcast 3 minutes before the encounter and he was dead within a minute and police chief said that was not why he was stopped.
read the fn police report it says he would press charges...
Yep — as expected.
And the police chief was warned by a reporter at the news conference yesterday about this this store now being targeted and his attitude was a screw you — you asked for it.
From stltoday
So, are we going to quote the chief, or not? He's either a credible source, or not. Selectively paraphrasing his statements does no one any good in trying to bring clarity to this tragedy.
First description goes out 10 mins before encounter.
Responding officer provides additional details 5 mins before encounter.
Additional amplifying details including shorts color reported 3 to 4 mins before encounter.
So my question to the Chief is -- which was it -- did he know or not know -- make up your mind.
The description went out 3 minutes before he encountered the two in the street and 1 minute later Brown was dead in the street.
So when did he see the cigars and how did he see them in those big hands and where were they during the fight???
Press charges against who??? the thief was dead at that point.
I think the answer is he suspected, and attempted to investigate...
He was aware of the robbery call.
He saw someone who might be involved.
And in the course of trying to investigate somehow the SHTF.
Which Chief should I quote the morning Chief or the afternoon Chief.
When pressed by a reporter if he recognized the guy as the robber because he saw cigars, the Chief said that he was speculating.
10 minutes from first description to the encounter.
Not 3.
4 mins prior to encounter the summary of broadcast description details included...
White shirt, red cards that, yellow socks, and I believe lastly, khaki shorts ... that was the detail sent at time 57.
The description was not broadcast all at once... it went out in bits and pieces as the info was gathered.
The Chief needs to make up his mind with the facts.
The guy was either stopped because he was in the middle of the street or because he had cigars in his hand.
It’s one or the other.
If it was cigars and he thought he had the suspect then protocol is to call that in.
Did he call that in???
The news I heard was clear that the officer was already at the scene and was going to pull away, when the description of Brown and Johnson doing the robbery came in, and he looked in rear view mirror and realized that was the robbers, so he started backing up.
That’s when Brown slammed his door shut on the officer... when the officer tried to get out and arrest him....that was a felony resisting arrest, and they all three struggled over the officer’s gun as it was pointed at the officer and he pushed it away and it went off, then Brown ran, but turned around to charge the officer when he said ‘freeze’.
The shots were fired when Brown started back toward the officer. One shot was fired during the struggle over the gun and the rest after Brown started back toward the officer ignoring ‘Freeze’...... all of this the account by Officer Wilson’s friend in MO on the radio show, as told to him by Wilson.
Is that right scenario, I would bet on it, but there are others who want to back up Brown...Johnson is a liar and a thief, so I do not find him credible...maybe some of it.
So there are several accounts going around, and this one seems logical to me as to why the officer fires several times, he had already been in a struggle with Brown and almost lost his gun....if Brown had continued running, I doubt he would have been shot, and back up would have been called. However Brown turned around to run toward the officer putting the officer in danger, that is grounds for the shooting, because he had already been in a struggle with the robbers....all of it happened within minutes.
Was Brown surrendering when the officer said ‘Freeze’? NO He kept coming toward the officer....’Hands up’?....maybe, but I doubt it. How would a lone officer react when 292 lbs of attacking 6’4” flesh is charging him, after a struggle with both of the robbers already and he managed to keep his gun. I would have shot him...if that is correct scenario, it would be justifiable homicide.
Exactly.
Quoting the pieces of his statements that support one theory while ignoring those that don’t isn’t helpful.
If you are going to rely on the chief as a source lay it all out there. But don’t cite him as the definitive authority selectively.
He has said the robbery call could have been a factor in the encounter, to claim he has completely discounted the robbery as a factor is simply not true.
The investigation continues.
I’m sure more details will emerge.
I’m confident that the officer knew Brown and his friend were suspects.
The call referenced a robbery which is a crime against a person, not a crime against property. Most departments encourage their dispatchers to gather as much suspect info as possible. Most times the radio operators broadcast this while units are enroute to the scene. Typically one unit goes to the scene while other units go into the area to search for suspects. We don’t know if an officer had arrived at the scene yet. If he had, he would have confirmed the crime and suspect info first.
In my opinion, when Brown decided to go after the officer’s gun in a one man unit, unfortunately, he wrote his death warrant. This is a scenario which every officer has thought about before it happens. You think about it on the first day you hit the streets. And, every officer has made up his own mind about how he would react.
The reports indicate it’s both...
He hollered at the young men to get out of the road and onto the sidewalk.
He continues down the street and for some reason backs up... Either the description clicks, or he sees the cigars, or both.
I don’t see how it’s mutually exclusive.
Many many many suspects have been encountered for reasons other than their larger crime. A traffic stop, jaywalking, etc. often initiates an encounter, and in the course of that encounter the officer’s suspicion is raised.
It’s not fishy and it’s not unusual.
That Chief looks a little befuddled whenever he's in front of the mic.
In the end whether the Cop knew or not is at best a small contributing factor, IMHO. Brown KNEW, and as the surveillance tapes have shown, was big and stupid enough to get physical without a second thought.
Which leaves us at the primary issue of did the Cop overreact? Eyewitness accounts claim enough shots were fired to make it sound like he emptied a clip.
Here is the Timeline from DM:
A MATTER OF MINUTES: TIMELINE OF THE MICHAEL BROWN SHOOTING
11.48am - Officer Darren Wilson and an ambulance crew were at an unrelated call about a sick person
11.51am - A 911 call comes in about a ‘strong- armed’ robbery at a nearby convenience store
11.52am - Police radio dispatch gives a description of two robbery suspects who assaulted a clerk and stole Swisher Sweet cigars. The clerk says the suspects were walking toward the QuickTrip gas station
11:57:47 - the suspect’s description was released by dispatch
12:00:00 Wilson left the scene of the sick call
12.01pm – Officer Wilson encounters Michael Brown walking in the middle of the street in the 2900 block of Canfield Drive. The officer shoots Brown dead following an altercation
12.04pm – A second officer arrives on scene and the ambulance from the sick call arrives to give Brown medical attention. He is declared dead at the scene
12.05pm – A supervisor arrives at the scene of the shooting
According to this the description would have been aired 2 minutes before he left the sick call — not while driving to the 911 location.
Actually that info is available.
Robbery Call at time 50
Initial descriptions at time 51.
Responding officer arrives time 55.
Reports no one in immediate area matches description time 56.
Provides additional descriptive info time 57.
Wilson check out of current call time 00.
Wilson encounters Brown time 01.
Second officer arrives on scene (Brown/Wilson) about time 04, by which time Mr Brown is unfortunately already down.
But that’s not true either —
The Chief implied in the morning that the reason Brown was stopped is because he was a suspect in the robbery — implied but never stated.
He then came back in the afternoon and corrected that impression by clearly stating that there was no connection between the robbery and the shooting — that he was stopped because he was in the middle of the street not because he was suspected of robbery or because he had cigars in his hand.
Later he slipped this cigar statement of his in but then he was forced to admit that that did not come from the officer but was his own speculation.
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