Posted on 11/29/2014 9:50:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind
There were no surprises to come out of Ferguson, Mo., last week. Neither the grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, nor the riot that decision engendered was unexpected by anyone with even a modest familiarity with the matter. And just as predictable has been the left’s attempt to undermine the former and thereby justify the latter. They are to be excused in their rioting, we are told, for the grand jury’s decision is illegitimate.
To cite but one example of this, we turn to the New Yorker, where people of a leftist persuasion turn for guidance on how to think about current events. In a Nov. 25 post at the magazine’s website [1], legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin criticizes St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch for what Toobin sees as a failure to follow the “customary rules” of his profession. “If McCulloch’s lawyers had simply pared down the evidence to that which incriminated Wilson,” Toobin writes, “they would have easily obtained an indictment.”
Perhaps so, but an indictment in the case would have led to a trial that McCulloch knew, as Toobin himself should know, would result in Darren Wilson’s acquittal. Reasonable doubt was everywhere in the case, and prosecutors are ethically bound to proceed to trial only if they are confident of their ability to convince twelve jurors that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It wasn’t going to happen.
So, unless the Justice Department brings civil rights charges against Darren Wilson – still a possibility despite little chance of success – he will not face the public criminal trial that Jeffrey Toobin and so many others wished to see. And even a civil trial arising from a wrongful death claim against Wilson and the city of Ferguson is far from a certainty. Yes, there will be a lawsuit, of course, but it will likely be resolved through a settlement rather than a trial. If a trial were to take place, both sides would have much to lose. If a jury finds for the plaintiffs, the city faces the possibility of a multimillion-dollar judgment, and even if it prevailed, the city might face further rioting and disruptive protests. But lawyers representing Michael Brown’s family have risks to weigh as well. In a civil trial, Brown’s juvenile record would almost certainly be introduced. If it revealed serious violations of the law, a jury might be less sympathetic to his family request for damages. And is there anyone who believes he has no juvenile record?
But even as Michael Brown’s death recedes from the front pages, there are still aspects of the case that require examination, not least of which are the tactics employed by Darren Wilson in the moments leading up to the shooting. Though I’m in agreement with the grand jury’s decision in declining to charge Wilson in Brown’s death, it doesn’t mean I agree the shooting was unavoidable. If we imagine a counterfactual scenario and back up, step by step, from the moment the first shot was fired, we can come up with a way in which Michael Brown might have been arrested without the use of deadly force. This is not intended as a criticism of Darren Wilson, but rather as a reminder to police officers who may someday find themselves in a similar situation.
Among my first thoughts on hearing of the Michael Brown shooting was to wonder if the officer was working alone. An article in Police magazine [2] points out that of 536 police officers killed from 2000 to 2009, only about a third were working alone, suggesting that it’s somehow safer to work without a partner. I’m certain that a deeper exploration beyond the raw numbers would show this to be untrue, but let’s examine the issue as it relates to the Darren Wilson-Michael Brown confrontation.
We are told that Wilson was unaware of Brown’s involvement in the convenience store robbery until he had already initiated contact with Brown and his companion, Dorian Johnson. Had Wilson had a partner, there would have been an extra set of ears in the car to monitor the radio traffic, perhaps allowing the officers to learn in advance of the initial contact that they were dealing with robbery suspects rather than simple traffic violators.
But putting that aside, even if our two hypothetical officers had not been apprised of the robbery, they might have taken an extra moment to discuss how they would handle a pedestrian stop of two men, one of whom weighed 300 lbs. And Michael Brown might have been more hesitant to challenge two officers than he was to take on Darren Wilson alone.
Now take a partner officer out of our scenario. How might an officer riding alone have handled the encounter differently? Wilson told the grand jury that his request to Brown and Johnson to get out of the street was met with expletive-laden defiance. Wilson then radioed for backup, as indeed he should have. But rather than wait for that backup to arrive, he reversed his car and pulled within a few feet of Brown and Johnson, thus giving Brown the opportunity to attack him. The more prudent course would have been to keep the two men under observation from the relative safety of the police car until other officers arrived, then initiate a stop. Had Brown and Johnson attempted to run away, the officers could have set up a containment perimeter and found them through a systematic search. And even if Brown and Johnson eluded the search, how many people living on Canfield Drive are 6-3 and 300 lbs.?
Again, none of this is to imply that the grand jury reached the wrong decision in declining to charge Darren Wilson. But he made the choice to put himself in a vulnerable position while confronting two men, one of whom outweighed him by 90 lbs. Wilson told George Stephanopoulos his conscience was clear, but I can’t imagine he doesn’t harbor some regret at having placed himself in so precarious a position.
Of course, since we’re indulging in counterfactuals, we can imagine that Michael Brown didn’t rob the store, didn’t walk down the middle of the street, got out of the street when told to, didn’t punch Officer Wilson and try to take his gun, didn’t turn around as he ran away, and did lie on the ground when ordered to.
Change any one of those decisions Brown made and he’d be alive today.
Also read:
and if pigs had wings they could maybe fly, too...
Stealing cigars and getting belligerent with a cop...sit in jail awhile. But attempted murder - not a good idea and it’s an even worse idea to attempt murder on an armed cop....
If officer Wilson had been a 5’2” female cop, this story would’ve end differently but I’m betting Holder and Obamas people would still be in Michael Browns corner.
In this case, I fully support Officer Darren Wilson.
No arm chair quarterbacking, or second guessing.
I do not support obama, holder, or any other racebaiters. And the msm has been generally wicked and evil in all of this.
Yes, he did.
Carl, Carl, Carl
The policeman was every bit as tall as the robber and more mature (supposedly). Still he didn’t need to think he could take on two thugs at the same time by himself.
RE: According to Juan Williams on Fox, the officer when he feared for his life should have just run and driven away ...
Yep, and the fire fighters if they fear for their lives should simply not go to a home or building that’s on fire.
And our soldiers should just let terrorists kill if they fear for their lives.
And Police officers should just abandon dangerous streets if they fear being shot at.
And millions and millions of dollars in damage because the cop didn’t handle it right.
yep
Apparently the author is a police officer too.
What a stupid question. We all know the protestors are supposed to be Jury and Executioner.
perfect response
I'm a bit curious what the benefit would be.
Then there's the fact that Dunphy's hindsight scenario assumes pretty much infinite manpower resources that would need to be deployed every time a criminal is a super-special, jacked-up-on-drugs jerk. Forget that.
Sometimes it's better all around if you take out mad dogs on the spot before they attack someone else. That's why Officer Wilson is a hero. He was out-numbered, out-weighed, and out-crazied, and he did the right thing. He won a round for civilization. May we all be worthy of his example.
“And millions and millions of dollars in damage because the cop didn’t handle it right.”
That was obama, holder, other racebaiters, and the msm. They created a narrative that inflamed the situation and which gave other thugs the excuse to get free televisions, booze, and swisher sweets. Without the false narrative that obama, holder, other racebaiters, and the msm, created, then “millions and millions of dollars in damage” would not have happened.
This has nothing to do with the officer.
If a prosecutor in a grand jury knows there are 20 witnesses that support Wilson's story and there are 4 witnesses that contradict Wilson's story, then it is his obligation to present all those witnesses.
Now if Wilson's side of the story is poorly supported by some of the witnesses, then it's not his obligation to call those witnesses.
yldstrk, yldstrk, yldstrk,
The policeman was seated in his vehicle when attacked, repeatedly hit, and fighting to keep his weapon from being taken away. Wilson’s height was not relevant then.
Speculation about what Wilson might have done after that instead of shooting the violent assailant who was rushing toward him is just Monday morning quarterbacking.
I'm sure the burned-out business owners in Ferguson would have been happy to cover the salary.
The article should have been titled, "How Michael Brown Might Have Been Arrested without Wilson Having to Fight for his Life". My reasonable concern is for the person being attacked, the cop, while that thought doesn't seem to haved crossed the authors mind.
If I was Wilson I would have gotten out of my car at a greater distance from Brown, if that was even possible. Wilson may have unnececeraily risked his own life by getting boxed into his own car. Once Wilson was out of his car he was in control of the situation.
The writing is a pile of crap with a little ice-cream tossed on top.
If I had the power, I would have brought Brown back to life..... then killed him again. His death was not a tragedy, it was time for that POS to die.
I think about the lives and pain that may have been saved by taking the garbage out that day.
The not-so-gentle giant didn't think twice about attacking an armed cop, even while the armed cop was shooting at him. How much of a deterrent do you really think two cops would be.
I’m sort of miffed that we can’t just wheel out a guillotine and be done with the enemies of reality like Jeffrey Toobin and the execrable Washington Post. As a conservative I value process and not resorting means-to-an-end thinking but it really does draw things out sometimes.
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