Michael Brown: Redacted Police Reports Released
Posted on Fri Aug 15, 2014 at 02:28:25 PM EST
Tags: Michael Brown (all tags)
Ferguson police today released the name of the officer who killed Michael Brown (Darren Wilson, who had been on the force for 6 years with no disciplinary history) and 16 pages of heavily redacted reports (available here) related to Michael Brown.
None of the released reports describe the shooting. Instead, they describe an alleged "strong arm" robbery at a convenience store that occurred shortly before noon on the day Brown was shot and killed. Police also released video images from a surveillance camera inside the store showing a person they say is Brown "towering" over a much shorter person (the store clerk or manager). Brown, according to the report, is 18 years old, 6'4" and 292 pounds. [More...]
A female witness to the "robbery" relates that the person police say is Brown was accompanied by another man, since identified as Dorian Johnson, age 22, and that Brown left the store with a box of cigars without paying for them. The store clerk tried to prevent Brown from leaving by locking the door, but according to the police report, citing the video images, and statements of the clerk and the female customer, Brown pushed the clerk against a display case and then left the store with Johnson and the cigars.
From page 6 of the 10 page police report (I've filled in patron or clerk for the obvious redactions, and X where I'm not sure which one the report is referring to.)
[The female patron] had just come out of the restroom and returned to the counter where she observed Brown tell [the clerk] that he (Brown) wanted several boxes of cigars. As[the clerk] was placing the boxes on the counter, Brown grabbed a box of Swisher Sweet cigars and handed them to Johnson who was standing behind Brown. [The patron] witnessed [the clerk] tell Brown that he had to pay for those cigars first. That is when Brown reached across the counter and grabbed numerous packs of Swisher Sweets and turned to the leave the store. [X] then calls "911". Meanwhile, [the clerk]comes out from behind the counter and attempts to stop Brown from leaving. According to[the patron], [the clerk] was trying to lock the door until Brown returned the merchandise to him. That is when Brown grabbed [the clerk] by the shirt and forcefully pushed him back in to a display rack. [X] backed away
and Brown and Johnson exited the store with the cigars.
The clerk provided the direction in which the two men were walking after leaving the store (Neither had a driver's license.)
Also included in the media release are call dispatch times and a report by an officer who said he canvassed the area in which they were supposed to be walking but didn't see anyone.
The reports do not describe the encounter between Brown and the officer who shot him, or any details of the shooting.
The reports don't say whether Brown had any cigars on him at the time he was killed or whether he had enough money to pay for the cigars. The report says one box of Swisher Sweeter Cigars was stolen with a value of $48.99.
Here's an interview of a witness to the shooting, Tiffany Mitchell. She says she was driving with an employee in her car and saw Brown and the officer wrestling through the cop car window, and says Michael was trying to get away. She heard a shot go off inside the car. She says Brown got away and started running down the street. The cop got out of his car, followed him and started shooting. The first shot made him jerk and he turned around and put his hands up. She says the cop kept shooting, until he fell to the ground.
Dorian Johnson has also given media interviews. Police have previously said Brown tried to grab the cop's gun, which Johnson denies.
"The genesis of this was a physical confrontation," [St. Louis County Police Chief Jon] 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.
Another version of Belmar's statement:
Police said Brown pushed the officer back into the police car. According to police, Brown then entered the officer’s vehicle and a struggle ensued over the officer’s weapon. Police said during the physical altercation a shot was fired inside of the car.
The most unhelpful, over-the-top, incendiary description comes, not surprisingly, from lawyer Benjamin Crump, who is representing Brown's parents.
“That baby was executed in broad daylight,” ... Brown was shot and left in the road like an animal."
Crump's histrionics aside, nothing released by the police today sheds any light on the police narrative of the shooting or what led up to it.
It's unfortunate that the police chose to release documents casting Brown as a thug, while claiming exemptions from the public records disclosure law as to anything relating to the cop's initial encounter with Brown or the shooting. It's obvious the shooting was the result of the encounter between the cop and Brown, not the alleged robbery.
Even if, as the cop apparently claims (contrary to accounts of at least three witnesses) he was struck in the face by Brown during a struggle for his weapon inside his vehicle, during which a shot went off, giving him grounds to arrest Brown for assaulting an officer or some other felony, why wasn't he equipped with a non-lethal weapon (stun gun, pepper ball, etc) to use on Brown to stop his flight from the scene, and why didn't he call and wait for backup to arrive to apprehend Brown, instead of pursuing him on his own?
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