The Great Police Work Thread
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Jiggyfly
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Officer in Missouri shooting unaware teen was a suspect: police
BY NICK CAREY
FERGUSON Mo. Fri Aug 15, 2014 7:28pm EDT
(Reuters) - Minutes before a police officer shot him dead, Michael Brown had become a suspect in the theft of cigars from a store, according to police reports released on Friday after days of protests in a St. Louis suburb over the unarmed black teenager's death.
But what, if anything, that had to do with the fatal encounter became less clear as the day went by. Hours after the reports' release, police said that Officer Darren Wilson, 28, had no idea 18-year-old Brown was a robbery suspect. He simply wanted Brown to move from the road to the sidewalk, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said at a news conference
"He was walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic. That was it," Jackson said.
After nearly a week of accusations that the Ferguson Police Department did not know how to communicate with the public, Jackson did little to dispel that image during two appearances on Friday.
He was visibly nervous, stuttering as he fumbled his notes, and made announcements that only sowed more confusion. After releasing the robbery incident report without any attempt to explain its fuller context, he let more than five hours pass before confirming, and only when asked, that Wilson did not know about the robbery when he encountered Brown.
The decision by the police department, which is overwhelmingly white, to release a report on the robbery while keeping details of the shooting secret only served to fuel outrage that has roiled the St. Louis area.
After identifying Wilson as the officer involved in the shooting, Jackson described the officer as a "gentleman" who has been devastated by the incident. Wilson worked four of his six years as an officer on the Ferguson police force, the chief said.
Wilson's identity has been kept a secret since the Aug. 9 shooting and authorities had been under mounting pressure to both identify the officer and to provide details about the investigation to ease unrest in the largely black community.
Since Saturday's killing, which took place shortly after noon on a street running through a quiet, tree-lined residential neighborhood, protesters have converged on Ferguson, casting a spotlight on area racial tensions.
Anger over the shooting brought thousands of protesters into the streets of Ferguson, and triggered nightly clashes from Sunday through Wednesday with police officers in riot gear.
Civil rights groups have complained that Brown's death is the latest in a long history of racial profiling and harassment by police, and discriminatory arrests.
Some residents saw the police report on the robbery as the latest example of the pattern.
"This is how the police operate here, they always defame the name of the victim," said area resident Arthur Austin, 39. "The more I hear, the less I trust what the police are saying."
A Brown family attorney said it appeared to be Brown in the convenience store's security-camera footage, which showed the teenager shoving a store clerk during an apparent robbery. Dorian Johnson, the friend who was with Brown that day, told the FBI and Justice Department officials about the robbery this week, his lawyer said.
Anthony Gray, a Brown family attorney, said the talk of a robbery was "unfair" to the family and a "distraction" raised by police. He said the real issue was why Wilson shot an unarmed Brown as the teenager held his arms in the air in a sign of surrender, as two witnesses described.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the civil rights group National Action Network, which is paying for Brown's funeral, issued a statement on Friday condemning what he called a "smear campaign" against the teenager.
Sharpton said he would lead a rally in Ferguson on Sunday with Brown's family, who expressed outrage at the police report in a statement on Twitter.
"There is nothing based on the facts that have been placed before us that can justify the execution style murder of their child by this police officer as he held his hands up, which is the universal sign of surrender," the statement said.
According to the account given by Jackson and the police reports his department released, police received a call about the robbery and an ensuing altercation with a clerk at 11:51 a.m. on Aug. 9. A suspect description went out over police radio.
Officer Wilson left a prior call he was on and then encountered Brown at 12:01 p.m. Three minutes later Wilson had fatally shot Brown, and other officers and an ambulance were dispatched to the scene, Jackson said.
Wilson, who has been put on paid administrative leave, has been shielded from the public since the incident. A lone police car sat outside Wilson's single-story brick house on Friday, and neighbors posted signs on their doors asking to be left alone. One neighbor said Wilson had not been seen for days.
Another posted a sign on their door that read simply: "We don't know anything. Pray for peace."
The police version that has thus far been provided of Brown's shooting differs markedly from witness accounts, including that of his friend Johnson.
In their earlier account, police said Brown reached into the patrol car and struggled with Wilson before the officer pulled his service gun and shot Brown multiple times. Wilson sustained a facial injury, which was treated in a hospital, they said.
But Johnson and one other witness have said that Brown was trying to get away from the officer, who tried to grab him after telling him to move off the street and onto a sidewalk.
Brown held up his hands in a sign of surrender but was shot several times, they said.
Police have acknowledged that Brown's body was more than 30 feet away (nine meters) from the police car when he collapsed and died and that multiple shell casings were found at the scene.
(Additional reporting by Jason McLure in St. Louis, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Carey Gillam in Kansas City, and Jonathan Allen in New York; Writing by Carey Gillam; Editing by Eric Beech)
Jiggyfly
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I agree with what you are saying about the lionizing but what parent would not put their child in the best light possible and in this instance the parents said their son was not an angel and admitted they had problems with him.
My issue is that you are quick to label in the most negative aspect just as much as the media has painted him in the most positive, its possible that the truth lies somewhere in between and IMO it does not matter if he was a saint or the devil himself.
If the eyewitness accounts are true he had his hands up and was shot multiple times the officer is guilty of murder and should be prosecuted.
Jiggyfly
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What we know about Michael Brown's shooting
By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
updated 12:10 AM EDT, Fri August 15, 2014
Watch this video
Michael Brown's friend describes shooting
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Officer who shot Michael Brown treated for "swollen face," police say
Police, witnesses offer starkly contrasting accounts of Brown's shooting
Witnesses, Brown's friend say the officer opened fire after a verbal altercation
Police chief: Brown assaulted the officer and struggled with him over his weapon
(CNN) -- It's a case of he said, he said. The accounts of why a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday couldn't be more disparate.
One side says the teenager was surrendering, his hands in the air to show he was unarmed, when the officer opened fire. Authorities counter that Brown attacked the officer in his car and tried to take his gun.
The St. Louis suburb of 21,000 was wracked by violence as protesters outraged over the 18-year-old's shooting faced off with police.
Although there were reports that some demonstrations were peaceful -- protesters held up their hands, as Brown reportedly did, and others demanded a fair inquiry, chanting, "No justice, no peace" -- there were also reports of fires, looting, vandalism and attacks on police officers.
Ferguson Police chief: We want the truth Teen shooting in Missouri sparks riots Mom: 'You took my son away from me'
As federal civil rights investigators and the FBI carry out their own inquiry into the case, tensions are running high in Ferguson, where there's a history of distrust between the predominately black community and the largely white police force.
Brown was African-American. Police have not identified the shooter, but a witness told CNN on Tuesday that the officer who opened fire is a Caucasian male.
The dispute between distraught Ferguson residents and police isn't likely to be settled soon.
One thing is sure, though: What police say was self-defense by the yet-to-be-named officer doesn't jibe with the accounts of those who say they saw the encounter.
Here's what CNN has learned:
Brown was spending the summer in the neighborhood with his grandmother Desuirea Harris, she told CNN affiliate KMOV. She described him as "a good kid."
Family members say he was a recent graduate of nearby Normandy High School and was going to begin classes at Vatterott College on Monday.
Brown and a friend were walking to Harris' house, his mother and grandmother said, when a Ferguson police officer confronted them.
This is where the stories part ways.
Dorian Johnson, 22, told CNN that he and Brown were walking in the middle of the street when a white male officer pulled up and told them, "Get the f*** on the sidewalk." The young men replied that they were "not but a minute away from our destination, and we would shortly be out of the street," Johnson said.
The officer drove forward but stopped and backed up, almost hitting the pair, Johnson said.
"We were so close, almost inches away, that when he tried to open his door aggressively, the door ricocheted both off me and Big Mike's body and closed back on the officer," Johnson said.
Missouri City Erupts after Teen's Death Police chief: 'We can get to the truth' Protests over teen's death turn violent
Still in his car, the officer then grabbed Brown by his neck, Johnson said. Brown tried to pull away, but the officer kept pulling Brown toward him, he said.
The officer drew his weapon, and "he said, 'I'll shoot you' or 'I'm going to shoot' " and almost instantaneously fired his weapon, hitting Brown, Johnson said.
Johnson and a bloodied Brown took off running, and Johnson hid behind the first car he saw, he said. The officer got out of his car.
"I saw the officer proceeding after my friend Big Mike with his gun drawn, and he fired a second shot and that struck my friend Big Mike," Johnson told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "And at that time, he turned around with his hands up, beginning to tell the officer that he was unarmed and to tell him to stop shooting. But at that time, the officer firing several more shots into my friend, and he hit the ground and died."
"We wasn't committing any crime, bringing no harm to nobody, but my friend was murdered in cold blood," he told KMOV.
Witness Tiffany Mitchell was picking up Piaget Crenshaw for work when she saw Brown and the officer "tussling through the window." Mitchell and Crenshaw concurred with Johnson, saying Brown appeared to be trying to pry himself away from the officer's grasp. Brown had his hand on the police cruiser, trying to push himself away, Mitchell said.
Mitchell reached for her phone to record the encounter.
"I didn't get the video because a shot was fired through the window so I tried to get out of the way," she said.
After that shot, Brown broke free from the officer's grasp, both women told CNN, and started running, but he only got about 20 feet from the squad car by Crenshaw's estimate.
"The cop gets out of his vehicle shooting," Mitchell said. "(Brown's) body jerked as if he was hit from behind, and he turned around and he put his hands up. ... The cop continued to fire until he just dropped down to the ground, and his face just smacked the concrete."
Added Crenshaw, who said she was watching the incident unfold from a nearby balcony, "The (officer) actually shot kind of carelessly. They shot my neighbor's building that was on the opposite side of the police car. They then later came and removed that bullet. ... Anybody could've been standing right there."
That Brown was unarmed is undisputed -- St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said every casing found at the scene was from the officer's weapon -- but he said at a Sunday news conference that Brown was not an innocent victim.
"The genesis of this was a physical confrontation," Belmar said, adding that Ferguson police asked his office to investigate the case.
Without revealing what led to the dispute, Belmar said the preliminary investigation showed that the Ferguson officer tried to exit his vehicle, but Brown pushed him back into the car, "where he physically assaulted the police officer" and struggled over the officer's weapon, Belmar said.
Looting breaks out during protest Ferguson mayor: Remain calm Fatal police shooting sparks protests
A shot was fired inside the police car, and Brown was eventually shot about 35 feet away from the vehicle, Belmar said.
The officer was taken to an area hospital where he was treated for a "swollen face," Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said, adding he had not personally seen the officer's injury.
He was released the same day. Jackson said he has spoken to the officer, who was "very shaken about what happened that day and the aftermath. ... He's hurt."
It's unclear how many times Brown was shot. Mitchell said it was "more than about five or six" times. Johnson said it was more than three, and Brown's mother said she was told he was shot eight times. Some witnesses said they heard as many as 10 shots. Belmar said only that it "was more than just a couple."
The chief didn't explain how Brown got so far away from the car or whether he was surrendering. He said he was declining to disclose certain details because he didn't want to "prejudice" the case.
The officer is on paid administrative leave. There's no word on when authorities will identify him, but Belmar said he has been with the force six years and is "unaware of any other issues that he's been involved in."
He will be required to undergo two psychological evaluations before returning to duty, the chief said.
Meanwhile, Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, didn't need to know his identity to direct some pointed words at the man who shot the son she knew as a "gentle giant."
"You're not God. You don't decide when you're going to take somebody from here," she told KSDK.
By Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN
updated 12:10 AM EDT, Fri August 15, 2014
Watch this video
Michael Brown's friend describes shooting
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Officer who shot Michael Brown treated for "swollen face," police say
Police, witnesses offer starkly contrasting accounts of Brown's shooting
Witnesses, Brown's friend say the officer opened fire after a verbal altercation
Police chief: Brown assaulted the officer and struggled with him over his weapon
(CNN) -- It's a case of he said, he said. The accounts of why a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday couldn't be more disparate.
One side says the teenager was surrendering, his hands in the air to show he was unarmed, when the officer opened fire. Authorities counter that Brown attacked the officer in his car and tried to take his gun.
The St. Louis suburb of 21,000 was wracked by violence as protesters outraged over the 18-year-old's shooting faced off with police.
Although there were reports that some demonstrations were peaceful -- protesters held up their hands, as Brown reportedly did, and others demanded a fair inquiry, chanting, "No justice, no peace" -- there were also reports of fires, looting, vandalism and attacks on police officers.
Ferguson Police chief: We want the truth Teen shooting in Missouri sparks riots Mom: 'You took my son away from me'
As federal civil rights investigators and the FBI carry out their own inquiry into the case, tensions are running high in Ferguson, where there's a history of distrust between the predominately black community and the largely white police force.
Brown was African-American. Police have not identified the shooter, but a witness told CNN on Tuesday that the officer who opened fire is a Caucasian male.
The dispute between distraught Ferguson residents and police isn't likely to be settled soon.
One thing is sure, though: What police say was self-defense by the yet-to-be-named officer doesn't jibe with the accounts of those who say they saw the encounter.
Here's what CNN has learned:
Brown was spending the summer in the neighborhood with his grandmother Desuirea Harris, she told CNN affiliate KMOV. She described him as "a good kid."
Family members say he was a recent graduate of nearby Normandy High School and was going to begin classes at Vatterott College on Monday.
Brown and a friend were walking to Harris' house, his mother and grandmother said, when a Ferguson police officer confronted them.
This is where the stories part ways.
Dorian Johnson, 22, told CNN that he and Brown were walking in the middle of the street when a white male officer pulled up and told them, "Get the f*** on the sidewalk." The young men replied that they were "not but a minute away from our destination, and we would shortly be out of the street," Johnson said.
The officer drove forward but stopped and backed up, almost hitting the pair, Johnson said.
"We were so close, almost inches away, that when he tried to open his door aggressively, the door ricocheted both off me and Big Mike's body and closed back on the officer," Johnson said.
Missouri City Erupts after Teen's Death Police chief: 'We can get to the truth' Protests over teen's death turn violent
Still in his car, the officer then grabbed Brown by his neck, Johnson said. Brown tried to pull away, but the officer kept pulling Brown toward him, he said.
The officer drew his weapon, and "he said, 'I'll shoot you' or 'I'm going to shoot' " and almost instantaneously fired his weapon, hitting Brown, Johnson said.
Johnson and a bloodied Brown took off running, and Johnson hid behind the first car he saw, he said. The officer got out of his car.
"I saw the officer proceeding after my friend Big Mike with his gun drawn, and he fired a second shot and that struck my friend Big Mike," Johnson told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "And at that time, he turned around with his hands up, beginning to tell the officer that he was unarmed and to tell him to stop shooting. But at that time, the officer firing several more shots into my friend, and he hit the ground and died."
"We wasn't committing any crime, bringing no harm to nobody, but my friend was murdered in cold blood," he told KMOV.
Witness Tiffany Mitchell was picking up Piaget Crenshaw for work when she saw Brown and the officer "tussling through the window." Mitchell and Crenshaw concurred with Johnson, saying Brown appeared to be trying to pry himself away from the officer's grasp. Brown had his hand on the police cruiser, trying to push himself away, Mitchell said.
Mitchell reached for her phone to record the encounter.
"I didn't get the video because a shot was fired through the window so I tried to get out of the way," she said.
After that shot, Brown broke free from the officer's grasp, both women told CNN, and started running, but he only got about 20 feet from the squad car by Crenshaw's estimate.
"The cop gets out of his vehicle shooting," Mitchell said. "(Brown's) body jerked as if he was hit from behind, and he turned around and he put his hands up. ... The cop continued to fire until he just dropped down to the ground, and his face just smacked the concrete."
Added Crenshaw, who said she was watching the incident unfold from a nearby balcony, "The (officer) actually shot kind of carelessly. They shot my neighbor's building that was on the opposite side of the police car. They then later came and removed that bullet. ... Anybody could've been standing right there."
That Brown was unarmed is undisputed -- St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said every casing found at the scene was from the officer's weapon -- but he said at a Sunday news conference that Brown was not an innocent victim.
"The genesis of this was a physical confrontation," Belmar said, adding that Ferguson police asked his office to investigate the case.
Without revealing what led to the dispute, Belmar said the preliminary investigation showed that the Ferguson officer tried to exit his vehicle, but Brown pushed him back into the car, "where he physically assaulted the police officer" and struggled over the officer's weapon, Belmar said.
Looting breaks out during protest Ferguson mayor: Remain calm Fatal police shooting sparks protests
A shot was fired inside the police car, and Brown was eventually shot about 35 feet away from the vehicle, Belmar said.
The officer was taken to an area hospital where he was treated for a "swollen face," Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said, adding he had not personally seen the officer's injury.
He was released the same day. Jackson said he has spoken to the officer, who was "very shaken about what happened that day and the aftermath. ... He's hurt."
It's unclear how many times Brown was shot. Mitchell said it was "more than about five or six" times. Johnson said it was more than three, and Brown's mother said she was told he was shot eight times. Some witnesses said they heard as many as 10 shots. Belmar said only that it "was more than just a couple."
The chief didn't explain how Brown got so far away from the car or whether he was surrendering. He said he was declining to disclose certain details because he didn't want to "prejudice" the case.
The officer is on paid administrative leave. There's no word on when authorities will identify him, but Belmar said he has been with the force six years and is "unaware of any other issues that he's been involved in."
He will be required to undergo two psychological evaluations before returning to duty, the chief said.
Meanwhile, Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, didn't need to know his identity to direct some pointed words at the man who shot the son she knew as a "gentle giant."
"You're not God. You don't decide when you're going to take somebody from here," she told KSDK.
Jiggyfly
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Ok just so I am not putting words in your mouth are you saying because he got into a fight with the cop he deserved to be shot?
And why are you automatically taking the cops version of events when 4 other people say things differently.
Jiggyfly
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/twitter-user-michael-brown-shooting-ferguson
Twitter User Appears To Provide Eyewitness Account Of Teen Shooting
Twitter User Appears To Provide Eyewitness Account Of Teen Shooting
Jiggyfly
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For anyone interested here are several eyewitness accounts of the incident.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2725057/New-witnesses-claim-Michael-Brown-did-wrong-cop-shooting-Missouri.html
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/new-witness-to-michael-brown-shooting-speaks-to-don-lemon-about-what-she-saw/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2725057/New-witnesses-claim-Michael-Brown-did-wrong-cop-shooting-Missouri.html
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/new-witness-to-michael-brown-shooting-speaks-to-don-lemon-about-what-she-saw/
Kbrown
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My inclination would really be to wait and see the facts come out, but since we are beyond that and people are destroying businesses and attacking police and bobblehead Al Sharpton's dumb ass has descended upon the situation, F it.
But, yeah, depending on the nature of the fight, deadly force might be justified.
Jiggyfly
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See this is what I don't get yeah it might be justified but if you take eyewitness statements into account you have to believe the officer overreacted a killed the guy.My inclination would really be to wait and see the facts come out, but since we are beyond that and people are destroying businesses and attacking police and bobblehead Al Sharpton's dumb ass has descended upon the situation, F it.
But, yeah, depending on the nature of the fight, deadly force might be justified.
Why are you totally discounting these statements and giving the police all the benefit of the doubt?
I hate Sharpton as much as anybody, but he has jack shit to do with what we know about the case and in no way should be factored into how anyone feels about this case.
Kbrown
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That's why I said it depends on how the fight went down. And maybe I'm leaning toward suspicious regarding eyewitness accounts by people from an area where tension with police was already high. Especially when the most prominent eyewitness keeps referring to "my friend Big Mike."
Jiggyfly
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Jiggyfly
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And this is what a lot of black people think about Sharpton these days.
NBA Star Calls Al Sharpton a ‘Coon’ for Stepping into Ferguson
by Josh Feldman | 12:24 pm, August 14th, 2014
494
NBA player Gilbert Arenas really went off on Al Sharpton yesterday. Arenas was really incensed at Sharpton’s presence in Ferguson, Mo., and even went so far as to call the civil rights leader a “coon” and asking people to stop inviting him into their communities for help.
Arenas posted a rather lengthy rant on Instagram that’s since been deleted, but UPROXX captured the full text before it was taken down, and man, it’s a doozy.
Arenas sent his best wishes to Michael Brown‘s grieving family but immediately went on to blast African-Americans for resorting to looting and rioting. He said, “only reason they issue riot police isssss just in case you actually got smart enough to walk 6 blocks ,YALL ain’t f-cking up white rich sh-t smdh.”
And then he went after Sharpton:
NBA Star Calls Al Sharpton a ‘Coon’ for Stepping into Ferguson
by Josh Feldman | 12:24 pm, August 14th, 2014
494
NBA player Gilbert Arenas really went off on Al Sharpton yesterday. Arenas was really incensed at Sharpton’s presence in Ferguson, Mo., and even went so far as to call the civil rights leader a “coon” and asking people to stop inviting him into their communities for help.
Arenas posted a rather lengthy rant on Instagram that’s since been deleted, but UPROXX captured the full text before it was taken down, and man, it’s a doozy.
Arenas sent his best wishes to Michael Brown‘s grieving family but immediately went on to blast African-Americans for resorting to looting and rioting. He said, “only reason they issue riot police isssss just in case you actually got smart enough to walk 6 blocks ,YALL ain’t f-cking up white rich sh-t smdh.”
And then he went after Sharpton:
Kbrown
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Dude, the Al Sharpton thing was just a passing remark. I know he doesn't speak for the majority of black people.
I really do think it is best to wait and see, like I said, but I do feel the media's handling of the situation has been lopsided and has kind of forced everyone's hand.
I really do think it is best to wait and see, like I said, but I do feel the media's handling of the situation has been lopsided and has kind of forced everyone's hand.
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I don't know about that. If that were the case, wouldn't he be a forgotten footnote after Tawana Brawley?
jsmith6919
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L.T. Fan
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Thank you. I thought at some point I heard about about a physical confrontation but I was involved with something else at the time and didn't digest what I was hearing. I haven't heard about it any more since.