There are two mutually exclusive views of what happened. The type of person that Brown (or this cop) was has an effect on which version of those events I believe. I don’t think that’s irrational. I think that the kind of person who would knock around a convenience store owner (or kick kittens while sucker punching babies) to steal cigars is more likely the kind of person who would attack a cop than the kind of person who doesn’t do those things.
If tomorrow a trove of online rantings about black teens written by this cop comes out, it would definitely color the way I view his version as well.
Too much conflicting info to draw a conclusion at this point. I can see it playing out either way. We need some real forensic evidence to chew over. Unfortunately, the police seem to be holding their cards very close. We’re not even getting reports from “unnamed sources.” I commend them on their ability to control leaks.
Debaser, perhaps the reason the police haven’t just shot multiple additional citizens is that, you know, the disobedient miscreants are humans. Even if they’re pissed off in the wake of one citizen having already been shot, and aren’t being all too subservient to police commands. They’re still people, and they have certain rights that aren’t cancelled or surrendered even if they act unlawfully.
As an old hippie who actually participated in some street level urban – err, altercations, yeah, that’s the word! altercations! – I can say with some sensitivity that I’m glad civil disobedience isn’t a capital crime. At least, until you get what seems to be your wish, anyway.
You say “riot” and I say “demonstration”… Which more correctly describes the actions seen in that community these past several nights?
Absolutely agreed. I could be swayed either way based on the evidence. But, I’m concerned that there is no amount of evidence in either direction that is going to satisfy the side that is incorrect.
If you’d limited your argument to that, I’d have had very little argument. Your original statement to which I responded was that “The store owner didn’t report the theft because he is terrified that he will be killed if word gets out that he did that.” That’s a much stronger assertion than “you can’t infer there was no robbery.”
All we know from the video is that there was an altercation between the clerk and Michael Brown. We also know that the store did not make a 911 call. And we have the subsequent interview done days after the incident, after looting and rioting, in which the owner begs the media not to suggest he sicced the police on Brown. That doesn’t add up to the owner fearing reprisals in pre-riotous Ferguson.
Got some “wheres?” here. Where’s the cigars? Evidence, yes? Even somewhat more important to the narrative that has the officer becoming suspicious because Brown has the cigars. Didn’t smoke 'em all in ten minutes. So, where are they? They would corroborate the story they would have us accept, so why not produce them? Even better with Brown’s fingerprints all over them!
(Maybe not if there’s blood, that leads to the wrong image, like somebody getting killed over some cheap fucking cigars! That would be bad…)
Where’s the car? Which, presumably, may have the bullet that was fired in the car. Wouldn’t the car be evidence? Did somebody just get in and take it back to the motor pool?
Where’s the report from the scene? You know, the one where the body is here, the car is there, they are X number of feet apart, here is shell casing number one, here is number two, so on and so forth. Nothing like that?
The Ferguson police leak like a firehose when it comes to stuff that might make them look better. Might we not fairly assume that if something is withheld, its because its not likely to make them look better.
Police said they found evidence of the stolen merchandise on Brown’s body.
You want pictures of the cigars? Or the cigars themselves? When the investigation ends, if there is a trial, I am sure you will see them. If there isn’t, you won’t. But when the investigation ends, the police reports will become public, and you can see where the cigars found on the body are mentioned.
The same with the rest of it. It is an ongoing investigation. Those records are not yet public. I think the coroner who did the first autopsy spoke to the press, but the report is not public.
My main issue here is that whenever these incidents happen, everybody falls to their respective “side”. Very little objective processing of information. It’s all parsed and spun to best represent one’s side. The video of the robbery is released, the pro Mike Brown side says “that’s got nothing to do with it”. The pro Darren Wilson side says “justified shooting, case closed”. NEITHER of those are true. Same goes for the autopsy report. Very little obvious conclusions can be drawn from it. Yet both sides act like it back them up completely. People are emotional nuts
Oh, here we go again… (CNN) – St. Louis police shot and killed a young African-American man Tuesday after authorities say he brandished a knife.
The shooting took place not far from Ferguson, Missouri, where the shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer has touched off violent protests.
The survey specifically asked line officers about complaints filed against them and the use of the recording to adjudicate the complaints. The majority of officers reported that the camera ultimately cleared them of accusations of wrongdoing; very few reported that the camera sustained a complaint filed against them. According to the responses of the over 3,000 officers who completed the surveys, in only 5% of the cases were complaints sustained based on video evidence captured by the in-car cameras.
And the fun part:
In at least half of the instances, once the complainant is made aware that the stop or contact was recorded, the complaint was withdrawn.
Hard to disagree, however---- dash cams typically point forward, don’t they? Not sure how much value they would add when the action is (allegedly) happening outside the driver’s side door.
I think these cops need to start using tasers. I don’t want to blame the police for this but you gotta wonder if there will be more young black kids who want to become martyrs like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.