There’s been disputes about what happened at almost every step of the confrontation between Michael Brown & Darren Wilson. A big deal has been made about the distance Brown was from Wilson when he was shot, with Wilson & those wanting to exonerate him claiming that he was 35 feet away, while physical evidence appears to support the contention that he was 4 to 5 times that distance away. In my mind, it doesn’t much matter. 35 feet is still a fairly long way away, particularly considering Brown’s condition at the time – Wilson would still have had plenty of time to defend himself. He should’ve waited until Brown got within 20 feet (if he were to get that far) before shooting, by which time he could assess if he were truly in mortal danger (& he’d also have a better target). Most likely Brown was going nowhere other than a few feet here or there due to his difficulty standing in 1 place in his condition. At 35 feet away, Brown was no danger to Wilson (much less so at 150 feet away).
Nor does what happened in the car before then much matter. Both Michael Brown & Darren Wilson at times during their struggle appeared angry, fearful & acted irrationally, so to judge what happened here on a logical basis is probably futile.
The key part was after running away (& being shot at), Brown turned around to face Wilson &, according to most witnesses, raised his hands as if to surrender, & started staggering. According to a mysterious witness & Wilson himself, Brown started charging at that point, & whatever raising of his hands there might have been was part of getting ready to charge at Wilson.
So which of these scenarios is more likely? Staggering or charging? For one thing, consider Brown’s condition. He’s been shot several times already. He knows that if he were to go in the direction of Wilson in attack mode that he was a dead duck, plus it’s very unlikely that he could reach Wilson very fast. It’s doubtful he could run with much speed, if at all, so it made no sense for him to charge in that direction, & he probably didn't have the capacity to do so, anyway. On the other hand, staggering in that condition makes perfect sense. I wouldn’t expect anything else, except maybe falling to the ground (which he soon did with the help of some bullets). If he were staggering, could he have been mistaken for charging? Yes. His raised hands would likely be less than vertical & pointing somewhat forward as he tries to maintain his balance. He would very likely take a few steps forward in that position trying to stay afoot – he might even have accelerated a bit in that position, if not immediately able to get a foothold. Furthermore, I can imagine that his eyes might look frightful in that condition, considering he may be on the verge of convulsing. So if Wilson was in an irrational state, he could’ve possibly hallucinated that Brown was charging him. The only grounds for acquittal that I see would be by reason of temporary insanity. In any case, this situation clearly calls for a trial.
According to forensic experts, the position & trajectory of the bullet wounds on his body indicate that Brown was shot in his arms with his hands up, then shot in the chest as he was starting to fall (or staggering), then shot in the head as his head was pointed forward in the direction of Wilson, which only makes sense if he were falling down due to the multiple shots he’d received, not charging forwards, which is virtually impossible after being pummeled by so much ammunition.
The evidence that Wilson should’ve gone to trial is overwhelming. Even Judge Scalia has problems with the grand jury presentation: http://thinkprogress.org/... . Take into account the district attorney’s long history of not indicting police, & you could reasonably come to the conclusion that this grand jury presentation was a sham.
Logic tells us clearly that Wilson’s killing of Brown was completely unnecessary & wrong. Our only question might be whether Wilson was in control of his faculties. Wilson needs to be brought to trial. This is abundantly clear.
While we should continue to pursue this case until justice is done, let’s not overlook a number of other egregious cases in which there was what appeared to be unjustified homicide by police. In some of them, the case against the perpetrator was either dismissed or he received a verdict of innocence. Others have yet to be brought to trial. We must make sure these incidents are well-publicized, & scrutinize those cases as we did with this one. I’m afraid that in this case, the victim was generally considered less than “wholesome”, which biased a lot of the (especially non-black) public against him. But there are many other cases in which the victim would have less of an image problem & with whom more people could identify or sympathize. Bring enough of these cases to light, & the public should be able to see clearly the brutality & militarization of the police, the injustice perpetrated on the powerless, especially minorities & the impoverished, & that we all can potentially become victims.