Friday - August 15, 2014

Um, Never Mind. Maybe?

Police today named Darren Wilson as the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown and released video stills and an incident report on a robbery shortly before the shooting that named the teenager as the ‘prime suspect’.

In a shocking twist to the killing which sparked riots in St Louis over the last few days, the officer investigating the convenience store robbery also attended the scene of the shooting and said the suspect and Brown were the same person.

According to the police report, video shows Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson having an altercation with store staff and allegedly stealing box of Swisher Sweets, a type of cigar. 

In the grainy images, a large black man wearing a light-colored shirt, distinctive shoes, a red baseball hat and khaki shorts is seen assaulting a clerk and then stealing cigars.

A photograph of Michael Brown’s body in the street after he was shot dead shows that he was wearing a light grey shirt, the same shoes and khaki cargo shorts. There was also a red baseball cap by the body.

This is NOT a case of mistaken identity; the convenience store crime report names Brown as the suspect, and the officer who shot him had also responded to the store robbery.

6’4” 292lb ... he was just a little kid.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2725917/Ferguson-police-Officer-Darren-Wilson-cop-shot-dead-unarmed-teenager-Michael-Brown.html
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/15/ferguson-police-say-michael-brown-fit-description-strong-arm-robbery-suspect/

The unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a police officer in a St. Louis suburb, fit the description of a suspect in a strong-arm robbery that happened minutes earlier, a suburban St. Louis police chief said at a Friday press conference at which the officer was publicly identified for the first time.

Ferguson, Mo., Police Chief Thomas Jackson said that the robbery took place just before noon on Saturday at a nearby convenience store roughly 10 minutes before a police officer identified as Darren Wilson fired the bullet that killed Michael Brown. Police say that the shot was fired after a struggled touched off by Wilson’s confronting Brown. Jackson said Wilson is a six-year veteran with no disciplinary action on his record.

The news conference came after nearly a week of sometimes-violent protests and calls by many, including President Obama, for local law enforcement to be more transparent about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Police previously said they withheld Wilson’s identity because of the potential for threats on the officer and his family. The officer has been on administrative leave since the shooting.

Police released still images and were planning to release video from the robbery, at a QuikTrip store in Ferguson. Jackson said Wilson, along with other officers, were called to the area after a 911 call reporting a “strong-arm robbery” at a nearby convenience store.

Naturally, there are those whose immediate reaction was that this was some kind of CYA lie put out by the police.

“I am incensed,” Laura Keys, 50, told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I can’t believe this is the tactic they are using, bringing up a robbery to make the victim look like he was the person who created this whole mess.”

Police have said Brown was shot after an officer encountered him and another man on the street. They say one of the men pushed the officer into his squad car, then physically assaulted him in the vehicle and struggled with the officer over the officer’s weapon. At least one shot was fired inside the car before the struggle spilled onto the street, where Brown was shot multiple times, according to police.

But a much different story has been told by Dorian Johnson, who says he was walking down the street with Brown when he was shot. He has said the officer ordered them out of the street, then grabbed his friend’s neck and tried to pull him into the car before brandishing his weapon and firing. He says Brown started to run and the officer pursued him, firing multiple times.

So, is Dorian Johnson under arrest for helping steal those $49 worth of lousy cigars? I have no idea. Tried to pull this gigantic guy into the cop car? With one hand holding his gun? Sounds like bullshit to me. Tase him, cuff him, call for backup with a come-along.

But I still like my idea of multi-angle digital video cameras both in (and inside) police cars, and mounted right on the officer’s uniform. These days they aren’t even as big as a button, and a datastream like this would have cleared this situation up in a minute.

Without a doubt, fingerprints from the store or on those cigars will place Brown and Johnson at the scene. And some people will still say that was planted evidence too.

The report then reads: ‘That is when Brown reached across the counter and grabbed numerous packs of Swisher Sweets and turned to leave the store.’

The attendant then calls 911 as someone else comes out from ‘behind the counter and attempts to stop Brown from leaving’. Someone tried to stop Brown from leaving and locked the door until ‘Brown returned the merchandise to him’.

‘That is when Brown grabbed X by the shirt and forcefully pushed him back into the display rack’.

X backed away and Brown and Johnson exited the store with the cigars’, said the report

The officer writing the robbery report said he attended the scene of Brown’s shooting and that after reviewing the surveillance footage ‘I was able to confirm that Brown is the primary suspect in this incident.

‘A second person, also at that scene, identified himself as being with Brown. That person was later identified as Dorian Johnson. After observing Johnson and reviewing the video, I confirmed he is the second suspect in this incident.’

Dorian Johnson has made multiple TV appearances since the fatal shooting of his friend. At no time did he make reference to being a suspect in a store robbery.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a single apology, an “oops, we all over reacted” or the return of a single item of looted merchandise. Faux mob outrage and mob violence are the MO of the day.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/15/2014 at 10:39 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Racism and race relations •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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