The Washington Post, in it's infinite wisdom, decided in the wake of the Non-dictment returned by the St. Louis Grand Jury investigating former Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of teenaged, unarmed, and as of that time not-suspected of robbery, Michael Brown, has been kind enough to provide illustrations that were generated by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office to tell their story of "what happened" that day on Canfield Drive.
Handy when one wants to put the actions of persons in context. It's just interesting to note that all of these illustration show things from Darren Wilson's perspective, something which Bob McCullough claimed his office wasn't doing - putting it's thumb on the scale - to guide the Grand Jury in a particularly direction. Now, normally that's exactly what the Prosecution would do in order to secure an indictment, only provide samples of evidence - not all of it - in order to justify taking this case to a regular jury. These illustrations, along with accompanying snippets of Wilson and Dorian Johnson's testimony certainly do not let the Grand Jury "make up their own mind".
Far from it.
WaPo was nice enough to include snippets of testimony largely from Wilson and Johnson - but not exactly all the relevant testimony from various surrounding witnesses. Often what they leave out tells us more than what they left in.
The first thing they left out is the correct law on "use of force". As Lawrence O'Donnell and then later thinkprogress have documented the use of force provided by McCullough's team to the Grand Jury stated that "reasonable belief" of a lethal threat is all that is required to allow an officer to use deadly force, however that law is outdated. The Supreme Court changed that standard in 1985 to require the Office have probable cause with Tennesee V Garner.
In the United States, this is governed by Tennessee v. Garner, (U.S. Supreme Court 1985) which said that "deadly force...may not be used unless necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or others." This case abolished the Fleeing felon rule where a fleeing felon who posed no immediate threat to society (e.g., a burglar) could be shot if they refused to halt.[2]
They then again amended the standard in 1989 with
Graham v Connor to require is be "objectively reasonable" as well with including probable cause.
In Graham v. Connor, (U.S. Supreme Court 1989) the court expanded its definition to include "objective reasonableness" standard—not subjective as to what the officer's intent might have been—and it must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer at the scene—and its calculus must embody the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second decisions about the amount of force necessary in a particular situation.
I've read some arguments that these only address Civil not Criminal Liability on the matter, but the point is that the McCullough team - either way - left the Grand Jury with a constitutionally incorrect impression
for three months as they listened to all the witnesses. They didn't correct this impression, and only halfway at that, until just before deliberations.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: As he drove west on Canfield, he saw two men in the middle of the street. He noticed their sizes: A very large man and a a very small one. He had heard a dispatch report about stolen cigarillos.
Johnson: After Brown stole cigarillos at the Ferguson Market, he and Johnson were walking east on Canfield Drive toward their apartments when Wilson drove past them going west.
At their initial meeting there really is no dispute.
Wilson: Wilson stopped a couple feet in front of Johnson, who was in front. As Johnson came around the driver's side mirror, Wilson said, "Why don't you guys walk on the sidewalk." Johnson said they were almost to their destination, and Wilson said, "Well, what's wrong with the sidewalk?” Brown then replied, “Fuck what you have to say.”
Johnson: As Wilson pulled alongside them, he rolled his window down and said, “Get the Fuck on the sidewalk.” “I was the one that was talking when the police officer said ‘Get the on the sidewalk,’ Johnson said. “I told the police officer we was just a minute away from our destination, I live in Canfield, and we'll be off the street closely.” They stayed in the street.
Almost immediately the versions of events and the conversation begin to diverge. In Wilson's account he's totally reasonable and polite while Brown is immediate rude and dismissive, in Johnson's it's Wilson who is dropping F-Bombs as if their going out of style.
Johnson had really only known Brown for a couple of weeks from what I can tell, they were friends but not for very long or lifetime pals so he really had no full background with which to judge what his normal demeanor would be. In fact, he was surprised and annoyed when he realized what Brown had done at the convenience and testified to confronting him over it before Wilson drove up.
"I don't do that stuff, man".
However for Wilson, we do have some examples of his prior behavior and how he tended to react and treat the public. We have the one witness who from what I can tell the Grand Jury did not call who went on record to state that Wilson had told her to "Shut the Fuck Up and Sit Down" during an incident when she had been doused with Pepper-Spray and was crying in distress while trying to wash her eyes clean with milk.
Via Gawker.
Woman: I was maced and I had come up to QuickTrip because they said I could use their sink. So I was trying to clean out my eyes with some water and one of the employees told me to go get some milk, because that would help. So as I was pouring milk in my eyes, the officers had come in and told me to get out.
Lemon: When was this?
Woman: This was like a month ago. I came outside and I was trying to pour milk in my eyes and Wilson told me if I poured milk in my eyes, I was going to be arrested. And I was trying to tell him that my eyes were burning because I was maced, but he told me to 'Shut the F up.' So, another man told me to get in my car and turn the air and put my face in front of the vents, so that's what I did.
Lemon: So were you arrested? What happened?
Woman: No, I wasn't arrested. When I got in my car and turned the air on and put my face in front of the vent. Wilson made me get out of the car and sit on the concrete and he took all my information and ran my name. And I was still trying to pour the milk in my eyes because I couldn't see, and he's telling me to 'shut the F up' and 'sit the f down' and I was looking at his name tag and I was telling myself that I would never forget who he was and what he did to me. And I prayed on it and I asked God to get revenge on him and I'm sorry this is the way it happened, but what's done in the dark always come to the light, and I saw the news this morning—
Lemon: But you're OK? Everything is OK?
Woman: I'm OK now. And I saw the news this morning when they released his name. I knew exactly who he was and I know who he is right now.
When it comes down judging whether the one to be disrespectful and potty mouthed right from the start was Wilson or Brown, we have little to go on in Brown's case as no one during this entire time has come forward to say that he had that kind of demeanor previously - and their is no audio from the convenience store tape - but for Wilson that isn't the case.
We also have the fact that Wilson, prior to being a member of the Ferguson Police had been part of the Jenning MO. Police force and had been fired along with all the other Officers on that force after their city council determined that relationships between the largely African-American Community and Police had deteriorated to an level beyond all repair. This isn't to say there are any known specific allegations against Wilson based on his time with that force, however it does show the kind of company he used to keep, if you will.
Additionally in his own testimony to the Grand Jury Wilson displayed a particular dislike for that community.
Q: Did you guys have a volatile, well, how can I put this. Did you not really get along well with the folks that lived in that apartment, not you personally, I mean the police in general?
Wilson: It is an antipolice area for sure.
Q: And when you say antipolice, tell me more?
Wilson: There’s a lot of gangs that reside or associate with that area. There’s a lot of violence in that area, there’s a lot of gun activity, drug activity, it is just not a very well-liked community. That community doesn’t like the police.
Q: Were you pretty much on high alert being in that community by yourself, especially when Michael Brown said, ‘[expletive] what you say,’ I think he said?
Wilson: Yes.
Q: You were on pretty high alert at that point knowing the vicinity and the area that you’re in?
Wilson: Yes, that’s not an area where you can take anything really. Like I said, it is a hostile environment. There are good people over there, there really are, but I mean there is an influx of gang activity in that area.
So for Wilson, he's in a "Hostile Anti-Police Environment" just by being in the neighborhood. [I wonder if he ever considered the idea that people are that way because they percieve the police as being
anti-them!? I mean, since they're so "unpopular" and all...] Now that could be his honest assessment, but it could also be another reason it's far more likely that he was the one to start dropping the F-bomb, before Brown. He was on "High Alert".
In a real trial some of this might have been brought up, Wilson might have had his credibility challenged if he'd been cross examined, rather than being treated as the Victim instead of the Defendant.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: That's when Wilson made the connection to the market theft and radioed to the dispatcher for backup. He put the SUV in reverse, backed up and angled the car to keep Brown and Johnson "somewhat contained." He tried to open his door, and Brown swore at him and slammed the door shut. Wilson said he then opened his door again into Brown to push him backwards."I tell him to, "get the [obscenity] back." He then grabs my door again and shuts my door.
Johnson: “Almost a split second” later, Johnson heard tires screech and Wilson backed his car up very fast and “aggressive” and angled it so that it nearly struck them both. They were inches from his driver’s side door. Wilson said, “What did you say?” Wilson “thrust his door open real hard,” and it bumped the pair and closed again.
More witnesses
Grand Jury Exhibit Number 25: “I see a guy on the side, on the driver’s side of a police vehicle. I see something going on through the window, like a tussling going on through the window.”
Interview Witness 43: “All I saw was his hands like enter and he was tryin’ to like pull away from him. But, I don’t have no idea what he was doin’.”
It's interesting to note that in his initial interview with Police Investigators, Wilson didn't mention anything about the realization that Brown might have been a
suspect in the Store robbery.
In his first interview with the detective, just hours after Brown’s death, Wilson didn’t claim to have any knowledge that Brown was suspected of stealing cigarillos from a nearby convenience store. The only mention of cigarillos he made to the detective was a recollection of the call about the theft that had come across his radio and that provided a description of the suspect.
Wilson also told the detective that Brown had passed something off to his friend before punching Wilson in the face. At the time, the detective said, Wilson didn’t know what the item was, referring to it only as “something.” In subsequent interviews and testimony, however, Wilson claimed that he knew Brown’s hands were full of cigarillos and that fact eventually led him to believe Brown may have been a suspect in the theft.
He also didn't mention any of this on the Radio when he called for backup. So, Wilson's story has
changed and whereas before he seemed to know nothing about Brown being connected to the Store cigarillos, later before the grand jury it's his primary reason for backing the car up. He told investigators he didn't know what was in Brown's hand, and what he passed over to Dorian but before the Grand Jury he specifically says that he
saw the cigarillos in his review mirror and when they were passed to Dorian. "Here man, hold this" as the confrontation began to get physical.
Now, that could have been a failure in his earlier recollection in the shock and adrenaline of the event - even though he wasn't interviewed until hours later after visiting the hospital - or it could be a convenient bit of artificial back story to justify his actions after the fact because he really didn't realize this at the time.
Which begs the question why did he back up again so angrily, nearly hitting them as Dorian says, then hitting them with the door and grabbing Brown by the collar? Perhaps because they hadn't done what he had ordered them do - "Get the fuck out of the Street". In both his interview and testimony Wilson claims they didn't do what he told them to do, and although he later claims his action was because of the cigarillos he says he say in Brown's hands in the review, for someone as hair-trigger as a guy who would tell a suffering woman to "Shut the Fuck Up and Sit Down" - he just might have been Pissed that they had defied him. Then when he opens the door and it get slammed back because he's stopped too close to Brown and Johnson he gets even more pissed.
But then again we can't be totally sure of any of this since the investigator who initially talked to him didn't take any notes.
The first supervising officer to the scene, who was also the first person to interview Wilson about the incident, didn’t take any notes about their conversation. In testimony more than a month after the incident, the officer offered his account from memory.
...
“I didn’t take notes because at that point in time I had multiple things going through my head besides what Darren was telling me,” the officer stated.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Brown punched him at least twice. "I see him ducking and … his hands are up and he is coming in my vehicle. I was hit right here in the side of the face with a fist … I think my arm deflected some of it, but there was still a significant amount of contact that was made to my face." He said he tried to hold Brown's right arm. "The only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan." He said Brown then handed the cigarillos to Johnson.
Johnson: Then Wilson grabbed Brown's shirt in the collar area through the window. Brown tried to free himself during the “tug of war.” He braced his hands, with cigarillos still in them, against the car. Brown and Wilson were “yelling and cussing” at each other, and both have “angry faces.” “There wasn't any wrestling or anything like that, no punches were thrown. It was more a tug of war and it was very intense, very intense.” Brown was never even partially inside the car. Brown turned toward Johnson and handed the cigarillos to him.
More witnesses
Grand Jury Exhibit Number 49: “Well, the big dude, Michael Brown, like he got mad kind of, he just went immediately to the driver's window and they got into it. I don't know how it started. I just know he went around to the window and it looked like they was fighting.”
Physician assistant interview: “I asked [Wilson] what happened, what brought him in and he-he said that he was ah punched in the jaw twice while attempting to detain a suspect.”
The big problem I see here first of all is that according to both Wilson and Johnson [after he got to Grand Jury], Brown had the cigarillos in his right hand.
So how exactly is he throwing these haymaker punches?
Another problem is the fact that Wilson's injuries don't match up with his claims or what the prosecutions illustration displays above. If Brown was throwing punches with his right hand, he would have hit Wilson On the Left side of his face, but that's not where the impacts took place.
Wilson's bruise was on the Right Side...
And the back of his neck...
He doesn't have a split lip. He's doesn't have a black eye. That's not consistent with someone the size and strength of "Hulk Hogan" throwing haymakers at your head from outside a car window.
As you can see from this frontal view, there is no injury to the left side of Wilson's face.
So we can functionally rule out the "He was throwing punches" argument because it doesn't fit the injuries. Also the only person who made the claim about "punches" was Wilson and one other, several other witnesses - whom the Wapo chose not to quote - said it was more of a "tug of war" than a punching fight.
Witness 14
I think the officer said something to him because Michael started walking towards the truck. ... I could only see from the passenger side. I don't know if [Wilson] had grabbed [Brown] or what but you could see them tussling in the car because they were moving around. ... I could see the top of his head and then he dropped down and he had disappeared for a minute. ... From my vantage point I could say clearly he was not inside that truck. He, partially maybe his head was right at the officer's head. ... I could see [Wilson] jerking around. ... I could see his torso I could see from maybe like the shoulders up and jostling around like they moving back and forth like this it was just like there some kind of tug of war or something ..
Witness 10
When I first saw these two guys. And, my initial thought was, "wow, that's a big dude." Because Mr. Brown, Mike Brown, my initial thought was he's a big guy. He's tall and like stocky build and that's it. [Brown and Johnson] both walked passed me. I took my tools, went into I came back outside to get some more stuff and I looked down the street and I saw the police car at a slant and I seen Mr. Brown in the window of the police car. ... it appeared as they were wrestling through the window ... I saw Mr. Brown leaned over inside the police car ... probably below ... like under your armpit. That's how much of his body is inside the car. ... At that distance I couldn't tell. It looked like a confrontation and all I could assume was some type of confrontation was going on in the car. ... and one gunshot had let off.
Witness 32
As the officer approached the two young I don't know what was said, you know between the two parties ... [the police SUV] stopped for a short period of time. The young men were still proceeding to walk in the middle of the street. ... [the SUV] stopped right beside them... the [police] truck was moving back and forth like it there was kind of a tussling ... I looked up under the truck. I saw the feet [of Brown] like moving and they were kind of tapping, like, it was like some kind of confrontation going on
Witness 37
As I turned into Canfield, I actually see some confusion going on between the officer and Mr. Brown which stopped traffic. So I was ... wondering what was going on. I saw they had Mr. Brown from inside his vehicle by the neck and by his shirt. ... [Brown] is slanted over toward the vehicle. ... I see Mr. Brown struggling like to get back from [Wilson] choking him. ... Far as I know he was, pushing the officer's hands, trying to get loose.
This is the one who mentioned "blows being struck", but they also say it was a "tussle".
Witness 34
The police truck was parked kind of so I couldn't get by so I stopped and I looked at him. This black male was, you know, like struggling. ... They were tussling and the police were sitting in the car and the black male was at the window ... [the struggle] went on for about two minutes I'd say. ... [Wilson] had a hold to Mike's shirt and Mike had a hold to his shirt ... it looked like Mike was throwing a couple blows while trying to get loose ... [Wilson] leaned over toward the passenger side
Most of the witnesses here support what Johnson says, not what Wilson says. Wilson
grabbed onto Michael and the core of the struggle was Brown trying to get him to let go. Wilson was the aggressor, Brown was trying to defend himself. If Brown did punch, and I admit that he might have, he apparently didn't connect very well and most of Wilson's injuries probably came from his impacting the head-rest of his own seat behind and to his right than from Brown's fists.
Also, no "blown orbital socket".
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Wilson drew his gun and said, "Get back or I'm going to shoot you." Brown grabbed the gun with his right hand and said, "You are too much of a pussy to shoot me." Brown twisted the gun down and dug it into Wilson's hip. Wilson shifted and pointed the gun down. "I pulled trigger and nothing happens, it just clicked," he said. "I pull it again, it just clicked again. I pulled it a third time, it [went] off … he kind of stepped back … and had the most intense aggressive face. He comes back me again with his hands up. I tried to pull the trigger again, click. Without even looking, I just grab the top of my gun, the slide and I racked it, and … I pulled the trigger again, it goes off."
Johnson: As the two continued to struggle at the window, the officer said, “I’ll shoot.” Mike’s left hand was still on the car. “When I look up and see the officer, the officer has his gun pointed, … aimed at Big Mike. … I'm still standing in the doorway and at the time he said, ‘I'll shoot.’” Wilson appeared to try to say “I’ll shoot” again but the gun went off inside the car before he got the words out. That shot struck Brown and he saw blood on Brown’s right side. “I saw blood with the first shot.”
FBI agent’s notes: “He pointed the gun at Brown’s body, pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. ... Officer Wilson pulled the trigger a third time and the gun fired through the door, driver door panel.”
So now guns are involved. Wilson has claimed that Brown attempted to grab his gun, but yet again there are problems. According to his testimony Wilson kept his gun on his right hip, which would be on the
opposite side from the car window so he expects us to believe that Mike was somehow able to punch him multiple times and at the same time
reach all the way across Wilson's body and under the steering wheel for the gun on his right hip with the same hand?
How's that work exactly?
It's far more likely that Wilson drew his weapon from it's holster on his own because there's no other way that Brown could have reached it. We know from forensic evidence and the initial autopsy that Brown was struck in his right thumb by that first shot, which also had gunshot residue embedded in it. This indicates that the muzzle was in close proximity to his hand, but doesn't prove what he was trying to do with his hand at the time. He may just as likely have been trying to keep Wilson from shooting him in face as attempt to disarm Wilson. Since Brown is dead, we can't know what his intentions were at that moment.
We might have been able to make a determination on whether Brown did try to grab the gun, if the police had bothered to dust it for prints but they didn't bother claiming it has "never left Officer Wilson's control".
There is a blood stain on the gun, but there's also blood stains on the inside door handle of the SUV and there's no indication that Brown touched that. Wilson apparently had Brown's blood "all over his hands" when he eventually washed it all off at the station.
Now, it's a foot race.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Brown ran. As Wilson got out of his car, he told dispatch, "shots fired, send me more cars."
Johnson: Wilson let go after the shot. Brown looked at Johnson and they both turned to run. Brown was behind Johnson. Johnson heard only one shot at the car.
There were two shots, one went into the door panel the other hit Brown and Wilson lost his grip on him. They ran. There is no dispute on this.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: "We pass two cars that were behind my police car while we were running," Wilson said. Brown stopped running after he passed the second car. Wilson stopped as well. When Brown started to turn around, Wilson told him to "Get on the ground, get on the ground."
Johnson: Wilson was walking fast but not running has his weapon drawn. Johnson crouched, half-standing, behind a gray Pontiac that was stopped with passengers inside. He asked if they would let him in, the driver refused and pulled onto the sidewalk. Brown runs past him; Wilson walks past him.
According to the
Map of the Scene provided by the police - Brown ran approx 170 ft to a lightpole down the street. [No, not just 35 feet as the Police falsely insisted for weeks]
The question though is while Brown was running down the street, what exactly was Wilson doing?
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Wilson did not say he fired at this point.
Johnson: Brown is still running as Wilson fires another shot. Brown jerked and stopped running. “I don't know if it hit,” Johnson said. Brown stopped and turned around to face Wilson. Brown raised his hands as he was turning around, although his right hand wasn’t as high as the left. Brown said, “I don’t have a gun.”
More witnesses
Interview Witness 30: “And ... about that time, he started to run, and that’s when the officer shot him in the leg.”
Did Wilson shoot at Brown's back while he was running? He claims that he didn't, that he waited - although he doesn't really explain what he was waiting for exactly.
The Witnesses on the other hand, not just Johnson, tell a different story.
Witness 12
Michael Brown is already probably, like, 25 [feet] down the road. [Wilson] hopped out after [Brown] ran from his window ... and shoots. I thought it was six times. ... the officer is basically ... walking towards the back [of the car] as he's shooting ... I guess [Brown] did get hit because he turned around ... he kind of stopped and turned around facing the officer, he bent down a little bit curled up ... like he's been hit in the stomach, like he's about to fall.
Witness 14
Michael ran toward the first driveway which is located were the memorial is on the post. The officer got out the truck came around to the back of the assumed his position like this (takes shooting position with gun in both hands) ... By the time [Brown] got to the edge of the driveway after he crossed the sidewalk he got on the back part of the driveway he stopped. Michael stopped. He was looking at himself to see where he was hit. He was doing this [looking at himself], but he had stopped.
Witness 42
[Wilson] shot again, shot the individual in the back ... I see the officer chasing after the individual and he hit him "pow" one time ... I don't know what part of the back he shot but [Brown] turned around
At a certain point after going 170 feet down the street, Brown stopped and began to return moving back towards the Officer - but the next question is was he surrendering with his "hands up" or was he "charging"?
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Brown turned around and started running back west toward Wilson. His first step is coming towards me, he kind of does a stutter step to start running. When he does that, his left hand goes in a fist and goes to his side, his right one goes under his shirt in his waist band and he starts running at me … That was all done, like I said, the first step, his first stride coming back towards me."
Johnson: Johnson was adamant that Brown made a half-step but did not run or walk toward Wilson.
More witnesses
Grand Jury Exhibit Number 49: “He just turned around like, you know, he put his arms about shoulder length and just stopped, like looking at him. And then, um, that’s when I heard the rest of the shots. I heard the first two, I didn't see them. And then when I looked at him, I saw him still shooting him.”
Again, WaPo picks to quote a witness who isn't particularly helpful and really didn't even see that much. Here's what the others said.
Witness 16
I looked outside. I saw [Brown] turn around and put his hands into the air. ... I heard several more [gunshots]. I can't put a number on it. It was several of them ... it just sounded like chaos. (moved again)
Witness 37
[Wilson] kinda gave him a chase and that's where I see Mr. Brown slow up and throw his hands up. ... He slows right up. ... [Wilson] steps out, he gives him a little pursuit. It was like kinda lazy like he made no effort to actually catch up with him. He gave him a little pursuit. He slowed up. He stopped.
Witness 42
[Wilson] shot again, shot the individual in the back ... I see the officer chasing after the individual and he hit him "pow" one time ... I don't know what part of the back he shot but [Brown] turned around ... Mr. Brown turned and literally put up his arms, in a fashion that means surrender. ... the individual realized he was shot he turns around and immediately put his arms up.
Witness 45
[Brown] stopped and with his arms up, [his arms] never went down to portray that he had a weapon or anything. ... I was right there by the dumpster ... this is where he ran and he stopped. ... And that's where he turned around, and he started going back towards the police to defend himself, like to give up. ... he turned back around with his hands up, to go back towards the police.
Witness 64
I saw the cop following [Brown] ... the officer had the pistol in hand and was chasing him and fired a couple of shots at him while he was running ... I saw [Brown] turn around like he had given up or something, you know. But he was still moving, he was like coming back at the officer and the officer just kept shooting at him. (indicates by motion that Brown may have been hit in the hip or leg)
Witness 48
[Wilson] got out of his cruiser and chased him. ... [Brown] turned around. And the police officer stopped. Stopped running and the dude started running back towards the officer. ... He was just running like this. (raises his hands over his chest, with hands clenched). ... [Brown put his hands up] for a few seconds and then put his arms down and he kind of put them close to his chest and he started running.
And there were those who said he didn't have his hands up, but there are also reasons to doubt what they have to say.
Witness 30
That's when the officer shot him in the leg. And it certainly looked like a leg shot to me, the way he (chuckles) ... spun around. ... he flung [his hands] out as he was running away and got [shot] ... and staggered around. ... And right after he was hit, he turned around and he started back toward the police officer. ... I've heard lots of people talking about how he had his hands up. He did not have his hands up.
As we now clearly know, Brown was not shot in the leg - so this could a secondary mistake on their part.
Witness 40
The cop was wobbling ... the big kid turned around and had his arms out with attitude. The cop just stood there. Dang if that kid didn't start running at the cop like a football player, head down.
This witness also wrote in their journal on the same day that they needed to learn to "
Stop calling Black people Niggers", so that kinda covers that.
Simple math says we have 6 witnesses, not including Dorian Johnson, who all say Brown put his hands up and/or was shot at and potentially hit while fleeing while just 2 witnesses - who have other problems with their testimony and credibility - side with Wilson.
If you include Wilson and Johnson's testimony that's 7 to 3 against Wilson.
Brown was not hit in the back as at least one witnesses suggested, although that person admitted they didn't know exactly where he was hit, but he was hit on the inner arm with a wound that could have come from behind.
Next question, after stopping - did Brown then walk, stumble or charge at Wilson?
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Wilson repeatedly told Brown to get on the ground, but he didn't.
Johnson: Before Brown can say any more, Wilson fired several more shots. “I stood and watched face-to-face as every shot was fired and as his body went down. … His body kind of just went down and fell.”
More witnesses
Interview Witness 16: “So there, I saw the man running ... I keep hearing some gunshots. Um, the lady’s window across the apartment complex from mine, her window got shot ‘causes steady gunshots flyin’ everywhere and I looked outside. I saw him turn around and put his hands into the air and get shot. ”
Interview Witness 30: “He walked back toward the officer ... His hands were down at his sides. And ... he got ... to within maybe six or ten feet from the officer, and ... the cop shot him. ”
Interview Witness 10: “Mr. Brown was quite a distance and he stopped and when he stopped, he didn't get down on the ground or anything. He turned around and he did some type of movement. I never seen him put his hands up or anything. I can't recall the movement that he did. I'm not sure if he pulled his pants up or-or whatever he did but I seen some type of movement and he started charging towards the police officer. The police officer then returned fire, well, not returned fire, opened fire on Mr. Brown.”
Notice how the Wapo picks one of the guys who says Brown didn't put his hands up, or rather that "he didn't see", not the six others who did. Also there are
many other problems with Witness #10 testimony beyond this.
Originally in his police interview just 2 days after the shooting Witness #10 claimed that Micheal Brown and his friend were walking on the sidewalk. Many reports show that this isn't true and they were actually walking in the middle of the street, which is exactly why Officer Wilson first confronted them. Later with the Grand Jury Witness #10 then changes his testimony to claim that Michael Brown and his companion were walking "next to the curb".
There are multiple points where this witness states "I can't be sure", "I don't know", yet this is the one witness - the only witness - that "Prosecutor" McCullough bothered to quote during his press conference to explain away the lack of an indictment of Officer Darren Wilson?
Fortunately we have other sources beyond the witnesses on this. First there is an audio tape of the second and third set of shots that were fired during the foot chase. That tape is 6.572 seconds long and the shot map on it looks like this.
There is a cluster of six shots, approximately a 3 second gap and then another set of 4-5 shots. Wilson claims that he didn't start the second volley of shooting until after Brown stopped and turned. That means that for at least 6.5 seconds, Brown was coming at him at a 'full run", yet the Police diagram of the scene shows that he only traveled a total of 21 Feet during this 6.5 seconds.
Our own jeffmotron did a fairly detailed breakdown of how fast an average person can run in that amount of time and his conclusion is that even someone going at average jogging speed would have covered three times that distance in that amount of time.
The average speeds: a really fast NFL player, 19.2 mph. A really slow NFL player, 14.6 mph. A 45-year-old non-athlete, 13.7 mph. Because these dashes came from stationary starts, these are lower than the top sustained speeds, but I'm more interested in a low-end estimate, so that's okay.
Let's be really conservative and say that Michael Brown could only sprint at 10 mph. (For another point of reference to how slow of a "sprint" this would be, world-class marathoners can maintain 12 mph for two hours.) Even at 10 mph, he could have covered 96 feet in 6.572 seconds.
To summarize: Darren Wilson claims that he started shooting at Michael Brown when Brown was 15 feet away and charging toward him, and that Brown continued to advance without slowing until the final shot was fired. A conservative estimate of the distance Brown would have covered if he was continuously charging for the duration of the shots is more than 90 feet.
And yet, Mr Brown only went about 20 feet? And this estimate is giving the benefit to Wilson in assuming that all these shots occurred while Brown was facing him and approaching, if we go by what many of the witnesses said - that Wilson first shot at Brown as he continued to retreat after which he turned and begin to possibly surrender we go from 6.5 seconds to more like 4.5 seconds after the initial shots are fired, Brown stops, turns and begins to approach.
Even with the shortened time frame Brown should have been still been able to travel at least 40 feet, considering the fact that he had just run 170 feet going the opposite direction. According to some analysis I've read which went to pains to reconcile UTC time of the video chat and GPS time of the radio calls to determine that the exact total time between the backup call and the recording of the final shots wasn't 90 seconds, it was really only about 48 seconds. So the struggle took place, the initial gun shot happened, and they fled all in around 42 seconds before the second set of shots rang out.
If the struggle took up about half that time, and that's being generous, it took 21 seconds for Brown to flee 170 feet. That's 8.09 ft per second, which comes out at only 5.51 mph. If he tried to return at roughly the same speed he would have gone 52.94 feet in 6.54 seconds or at least 36.42 feet in 4.5 seconds (assuming he was shot while still fleeing).
Obviously, that's not what happened. Brown was not coming back toward Wilson at nearly the speed that he had fled away from him.
Additionally the shell casing at the scene follow the blood trail backwards towards Wilson vehicle, indicating the Wilson was on the move - back peddling - as Brown approached and that he was apparently able to do that, walk backwards, just as quickly as Brown was able to move forward.
So "charging" - not so much, but that doesn't mean it might not have looked like "charging" if indeed Michael Brown was in fact falling and collapsing forward into the gunfire.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: Wilson fired a series of shots and thinks at least one hit Brown, because he saw Brown flinch but not stop. Wilson paused and started backpedaling; Brown kept coming toward him. He fired more shots at Brown and saw Brown flinch again. "At this point it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I'm shooting at him," Wilson said. Wilson said Brown approached to within eight to 10 feet of him. "I'm backpedaling pretty good because I know if he reaches me, he'll kill me," Wilson said. "And he had started to lean forward as he got that close, like he was going to just tackle me, just go right through me."
Johnson: “Shots was definitely fired while he was going down. The last shot he fired he was so close to the ground, it looked like to me he was already on the ground. His knees were, he was going down, he was already down before the last shot came.” “I can see how many shots this officer is firing, it is sickening to my stomach, I'm almost bursting in tears right there.”
More witnesses
Interview Witness 12: “... he got hit and he was curled up and he kinda like walkin' towards him just a little bit and he let go three or four more shots and that's when he hit the ground. ”
Grand Jury Exhibit Number 25: “It looked like he was going down, anyway, not to like give up, like to surrender, but to go down and bleed, you know, because like I said before even going down on his knees or whatever, the officer lets out more shots but he had his arms on his torso. ”
I've already quoted several witness that said he was surrending, stumbling, falling, so i'd rather not rehash. Instead I'll let Dr. Cyril Wecht talk about the
story that the Forensic analysis tells him.
Dr. Wecht: I don't like to be dogmatic, but there is only one way this scenario plays out when you look at the bullet wounds. There are two wounds, one in the forearm entering dorsally and exiting in the front and the other in the upper arm entering in the front and exiting in the back. Both had an upward trajectory. Michael Brown was 6' 5", Officer Wilson is 6'.
The only way that you have an upward trajectory is with the arm like this [Holds his hand up to shoulder height, palm facing forward] and the shots fired. And you have two shots that strike Michael Brown in the chest, and they both have a downward trajectory. How do you get that with a 6'5" guy being shot by a 6' guy? And then you have two wounds in the head that a parallel to the ground. When you put the body on the table, their perpendicular.
The only way you can get that is that his body is continuing to fall. The scenario is that Michael Brown was shot first in the arm, then as he is beginning to fall he is shot in the chest, and as he continues to fall he shot in the head. And he falls prone. He's 30-35' away.
What happened at the car is significant mostly because, and no one talks about this, for what was Officer Darren Wilson's attitude? Was he teed off? "This kid has just struggled with me with my gun" and the kid is now 30-35' away. He's unarmed, he's in short pants and a t-shirt. Where is this imminent threat? If he believes that this kid is a threat to his life then how in the world can he be out there as a police officer, dealing with people that have weapons, dealing with people that are really berzerk and people that really pose a serious threat?
No, this is [an] absurd scenario as far as I'm concerned in terms of Wilson's defense.
Yeah, that about covers it.
WaPo Testimony
Wilson: "I look down, I remember looking at my sites and firing, all I see his head and that's what I shot. I don't know how many, I know at least once because I saw the last one go into him. And then when it went into him, the demeanor on his face went blank, the aggression was gone, it was gone, I mean, I knew he stopped, the threat was stopped."
Johnson: Johnson said Wilson stood for a second after the final shot. “When I see his body hit the ground, in my head I say he's dead. At that time while he's on the ground, the officer is standing there, he doesn't look around like he's looking for me or anything like that. I'm still in plain sight.” At that point, Johnson ran home, changed clothes, and returned to the scene minutes later.
More witnesses
Grand Jury Exhibit Number 49: “He was just looking down at him, just like walking around him, you know, just like walking a circle around him like. I don't know, it was just strange. ”
And so it was done. It was over. The "Threat Was Stopped" and so was a young life.
Many people have argued that Michael Brown is the wrong case to make a stand on. "He was no Angel" they said, but it seems to me that being an alleged shoplifter is not a capital offense. Attempting to keep a cop from choking you, or shooting you without cause shouldn't be either. Contrary to the view that the Prosecution put before the jury, and as these illustrations clearly show they totally failed to make an argument in support of Michael Brown - the actual victim - and instead decided to present the defense case for Darren Wilson to this Grand Jury.
No attempt has been made as yet, to tell this story from Michael Brown's perspective under the law, or in a court. There's still a possibility that might occur with a Special Prosecutor [although I'm not holding my breath on that one], in a civil case, or in a Federal case, but so far the argument that Darren Wilson, coming from a Department with well such bad community relations they had to all be fired, who then talks about how the community is "anti-police", "unpopular', "full of gangs" does not come with the mindset to do anything but annoy, antagonize and bully people like Michael Brown.
And when they don't immediately submit? He escalates use of force, just as we saw in the early days of the Michael Brown protests. And it continues to escalate and escalate until ultimately Michael Brown is lying a in pool of his own blood with his brains splattered.
He's not going to College, which he had been scheduled to start that week. He's not going to graduate. He's not going to grow up and learn from his mistakes. Get married, have a family, deal with having to help them learn from their mistakes.
Nope.
He may not have been an "Angel", but then didn't he deserve the chance to be redeemed? Doesn't everyone deserve that chance? Isn't it written in scripture that Jesus stated "that which you do not do for the least among you, you do not do for me?"
Even if Michael Brown was on his way to becoming the worst of the worst, and frankly there's no indication that he was, weren't we supposed to try and make him the best he could've been before tossing his life away on the trash heap?
Did Officer Darren Wilson have a legitimate and reasonable fear for his life, or was he simply a paranoid and angry guy who needed a chance to act out on his fears with this "Hulk Hogan Demon" kid?
Well, since we haven't had a real trial yet - I guess it's fair to say we don't know. But it would be beneficial, IMO, for everyone to have a full chance to find that out. All we have seen presented in court so far is a case intended to Convict Michael Brown for his own Murder.
I put this together in less than a day, a few hours actually, based on my own previous work, and that of others over the past week. I think an actual Prosecutor - who really intends to do their job and Prosecute - could do much better than this.
If they ever get the chance.
Vyan
11:03 AM PT: Added a section right after the fold to discuss the McCullough teams failure to correctly and accurately describe the "use of force" standard to the Grand Jury, leaving them with a constitutionally distorted impression for a full three months until all the basic testimony was complete.
Also on the question of how the Grand Jury must have clearly believed Michael Brown was "crazy", "suicidal", "out of his mind" to behave in the manner Wilson describes, that has been largely covered here by xxdr zombiexx who notes that the DA asked various medical witnesses about "waxing" [a method for marijuana ingestion] at least 44 Times.
Repeatedly the witnesses told them that there was no evidence in the forensics to show that Michael Brown had been "waxing", or that such a technique would make a person violently delusional or suicidal. He had only heard about "waxing" from one of the Construction workers who had noticed he had some pot with him that very morning. That pot was still in his pocket when he was shot and killed so he didn't even have a chance to smoke it and lastly it's much more logical to assume that the reason he went to the store in the first place was to make what they call in street vernacular a blunt.
noun
informal
noun: blunt; plural noun: blunts
1. a hollowed-out cigar filled with marijuana.
And again, he hadn't smoked them yet - he handed those to Dorian.