Like most of you, I've been absolutely consumed with the investigation surrounding Michael Brown's death. While there's a flood of news coming out of Ferguson day and night, actual updates regarding the investigation to determine if Officer Wilson will be brought to justice are but faint trickles.
As an exercise to mentally distract myself from the angst and frustration over the glacial pace the investigations into Brown's slaying seemed to be taking, I began documenting various primary source witness' accounts to see what was consistent, what conflicted, and what could be deduced from that. Perhaps I'll post what I come up with a future diary, but I had to put that effort aside when the light-bulb moment of this diary hit me.
It's been a hectic week since Michael Brown's death on 8/9/2014. With so many things going on all at once - eyewitness accounts, peaceful protests, angry clashes, shifting jurisdictions, self-serving agendas across entities and elected officials, etc. - it can be hard to maintain sight of the forest for the trees.
Earlier this afternoon, I decided to try and gain sight of the forest, as it were, and I set about assembling and chronicling the various eyewitness accounts of Brown's slaying. Naturally, I came across Piaget Crenshaw's account and the video she recorded which was released just yesterday. I watched the video, read the transcript of her interview, and included the relevant parts in my own notes. Beyond that, I didn't think much of the video since it doesn't show anything different from the other videos and photos posted in the immediate aftermath.
Another source I was making notes on is who I label as "Anonymous Man" because he gave his account of what happened that day to St. Louis Fox affiliate, KTVI, on August 12th under the condition of anonymity. I first learned about him from this link, and initially made my notes solely on the summary they provided on that page, but eventually I wanted to note more direct quotes, so I followed the link to the KTVI story and was shocked at the realization that hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Anonymous Man" heard gunfire and looked up to see a person he later realized was Michael Brown "staggering and running."
Anonymous Man: "When [Brown] finally caught himself [from staggering in his efforts to run away] he threw his hands up and started screaming 'OK OK OK OK OK OK!" ... presumably as if to surrender.
News reporter voice over: "Then the witness said, 3 officers appeared."
Anonymous Man: "The one ... just started shooting. He didn't say 'get on the ground.' He didn't say anything."
Anonymous man goes on to estimate six or seven shots fired that resulted in Michael Brown falling forward, stumbling, back towards the officer for about 25ft. before falling to the ground dead.
Now this story has a lot of similarities with other witnesses' accounts, but I have not seen, heard or read it mentioned anywhere else that there were other officers present at the scene when Michael Brown was killed. This is a huge detail!
Via TheePharoah's live tweeted immediately after the shooting, and you'll see two cops standing over Michael Brown's corps within two minutes after when he was killed.
Go back to Ms. Crenshaw's video, and sure enough there are two cops standing over Michael Brown's VERY recently deceased body.
I know this may be the biggest "duh" worthy statement I've ever uttered, but Officer Darren Wilson was not the only police officer on the scene when Michael Brown was killed. There is at least one, and possibly two, other officers who were present. Why that significance didn't occur to me or to anybody else reporting on this sooner completely baffles me.
As best I can reason, the fact that there were 2-3 of Ferguson's finest present at the scene doesn't bode well for the likelihood of justice for Michael Brown. No longer is it just a matter of reconciling multiple eye witness accounts with what Officer Wilson says in his report, and the evidence that's collected in the multiple autopsies and investigations. There's two more wagons to circle around Officer Wilson's justification for the use of deadly force, and in a court of law, that trumps everything.
4:40 PM PT: Just adding some final thoughts ... The media should seek answers from Missouri Law enforcement officials in charge how many officers were present when Michael Brown was killed, and what their identities are.
4:40 PM PT: Just adding some final thoughts ... The media should seek answers from Missouri Law enforcement officials in charge how many officers were present when Michael Brown was killed, and what their identities are.