Meme's get created on the net easily. And when it comes to the Wingnut Web, those memes travel faster than an FTL drive on overload, particularly when they are provided by supposedly "left wing media" sources such as the Washington Post. in this latest iteration, the Wapo has fueled the meme that the Michael Brown Shooting Grand Jury has been provided forensic evidence that backs the "story" of Officer Darren Wilson and that at least half a dozen, unnamed, African-American witnesses have also verified his version of events. You can find this meme now on Hot Air, and it was mentioned by Sean Hannity when talking with Cornell West.
Officer Wilson's "Story" - which is still yet to be provided to the public via the Ferguson Police Department - is that Michael Brown assaulted him in his police car and tried to grab his gun. This of course perfectly explains why he shot Michael after he ran away, and while he had his hands up and was falling to the ground 108 ft away from his car.
Or rather, it doesn't explain that at all.
Continue over the flip to read more.
Just to be clear this is the one person who was closest to the event as it occurred, and very specifically says that Michael Brown did not attempt to grab the Officer Wilsons gun.
Wapo: Evidence supports Officer's account in Ferguson Shooting.
Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown fought for control of the officer’s gun, and Wilson fatally shot the unarmed teenager after he moved toward the officer as they faced off in the street, according to interviews, news accounts and the full report of the St. Louis County autopsy of Brown’s body.
Because Wilson is white and Brown was black, the case has ignited intense debate over how police interact with African American men. But more than a half-dozen unnamed black witnesses have provided testimony to a St. Louis County grand jury that largely supports Wilson’s account of events of Aug. 9, according to several people familiar with the investigation who spoke with The Washington Post.
Some of the physical evidence — including blood spatter analysis, shell casings and ballistics tests — also supports Wilson’s account of the shooting, The Post’s sources said, which casts Brown as an aggressor who threatened the officer’s life. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited from publicly discussing the case.
If these people are legally prohibited from discussing the case, which means they are either law enforcement, court personnel or members of the Grand Jury itself, why exactly are they discussing the case with the Wapo to specifically give an account which supports Wilson? I think I smell an agenda.
And then there's the "expert" that Wapo consulted.
Experts told the newspaper that Brown was first shot at close range and may have been reaching for Wilson’s weapon while the officer was still in his vehicle and Brown was standing at the driver’s side window. The autopsy found material “consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm” in a wound on Brown’s thumb, the autopsy says.
Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco who reviewed the report for the Post-Dispatch, said it “supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound.” Melinek, who is not involved in the investigation, said the autopsy did not support those who claim Brown was attempting to flee or surrender when Wilson shot him in the street.
So this pathologist, who apparently only knows what they've been told about the case by supporters of Wilson, claims that that the fact that there is gun shot residue in Brown thumbs means he must of have been reaching for Wilson's gun, not simply that Brown was shot while standing next to the car as other witnesses have stated while Wilson
had grabbed Brown by the throat.
That Brown was shot in the hand, actually across the meaty part of his thumb, is not necessarily news. The autopsy report done by his family revealed this weeks ago.
With his hands in this position, or while running away it's certainly possible that one of Brown's arm wounds, especially the one in the back of his bicep, could have occurred while he was running away. The claims made in WaPo explain the thumb wound, but not the other wounds particularly the fatal shots which went into his eye socket and the top of his head.
Other reports around the web claim the Wapo has reported over a half-dozen witnesses confirming Wilson's account.
At least seven witnesses gave testimony before a grand jury, which is deciding whether Wilson should be charged over Brown's shooting, that was consistent with the officer's account of events, The Post reported, citing sources. The sources also reportedly said that evidence, including ballistics tests and blood spatter analysis, also support Wilson’s account.
That absolutely none of these witnesses came forward to speak to anyone in the media, while there were at least a dozen
who said the exact opposite to the media on camera, including the white construction workers who stated that Wilson had his "hands up" when he was shot - is troubling.
It seems that if this report of the witnesses and evidence being shown to the Grand Jury is correct, this case is being sandbagged by DA Bob McCulloch. Why is the DA bringing in these witnesses, who no one could previously find, but not Tiffany Mitchell?
If the argument being made here is that Michael Brown attacked Wilson and grabbed for his weapon, a claim that is directly disputed by Michael's friend who was standing right next to him, that might explain the first shot through the window of the car but not the other six shots which happened later. The "self defense" case falls apart once Brown runs away from the car, and then it disintegrates into powder once he stops and puts his hands in the air.
This was nothing short of a street execution, it was a Murder, and unfortunately if this is the type of witness McCulloch is placing before the Grand Jury, it will be a Murder that will go unpunished unless the FBI can put together a string of behavior by Wilson - such as his telling a woman with pepper spray in her eyes to "Shut the F-- Up and Sit down" - to prove that the racial component of this case is more than just circumstantial happenstance.
It seems to me that "Shut the F-- Up" Wilson is pretty consistent with "Get the F-- on the Sidewalk" Wilson, not the mild mannered "quiet" guy that the Ferguson PD and Bob McCulloch has been placing in front of the Grand Jury.
Vyan
6:45 PM PT: Dr Melinek now says her assessment was taking out of context by the St. Louis Dispatch.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
Judy Melinek, one of the forensic experts who was quoted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday about the Michael Brown autopsy report, is taking issue with how the newspaper portrayed her comments.
The key piece of Melinek's analysis, according to the Post-Dispatch's original report, was that the report of Brown's autopsy "supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound. If he has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he’s going for the officer’s gun.”
That would be consistent with Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson's version of events, as reported by the New York Times and others. Melinek was also paraphrased by the newspaper saying that the autopsy was inconsistent with witness accounts of Brown having his hands up in surrender when he was shot by Wilson.
But Melinek told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Wednesday that her comments had been taken "out of context" and that she believed the findings could be explained by other scenarios as well.
7:53 PM PT: In her interview with Lawrence O'Donnell, Dr. Melenik essentially makes it clear that she never said most of what the Washington Post claimed she said, particularly not that it was "a fact" that Michael Brown reached for the gun, only that the wound on his thumb was more consistent with his hand being in close proximity to the gun, and angled downward, rather than upward. She couldn't make any definitive statement about shots fired at Brown that didn't hit him (six shots were misses), nor could she confirm exactly how two shot entered the top of his head other than to assume he was leaning forward as Officer Wilson continued to fire.