[quote=pabloesqobar]No surprise that some folks have already determined the cop should be charged and locked up. Despite having no clue what happened on the ground, or when deadly force is authorized.
What we do know:
1. This teenager was a 6’4″, 300 pound man. He is bigger and stronger than most men, including the police officer that shot him.
2. Him and his buddy just robbed a store using physical violence. And they were on their way to another store. Apparently, they feel comfortable being thugs and bullies, to do what they want and take what they want. Who in their right mind is going to say no to this dude? http://www.cbsnews.com/news/darren-wilson-ferguson-police-officer-who-fatally-shot-michael-brown-identified/
4. Him and his buddy boldly walked down the middle of a street, blocking traffic. Who would dare to say anything to them, other than a cop?
5. When told to move, they refused, which led to an altercation, which led to the shooting. So far, we have the police officer’s word and the word of the bully friend that just robbed a store, as to what went down that led to the shooting.
6. The buddy that didn’t get shot gave his statement right away. He claimed he saw his thug Buddy running away, and the Cop shot him in the back.
7. The autopsy revealed he was not shot in the back.
For now, I’ll take the police officers word over those of the thug criminal friend. I’m guessing he also neglected to mention they had just robbed a store.
But most of what you see through the news are baby pictures, how much of a gentle person he was, he would never hurt anyone. And this must be the result of racial profiling by a racist cop.[/quote]
Point by point:
1) Agreed.
2) The report of the convenience store theft was not out yet – it was in process of being reported. So cop had NO knowlege these guys had allegedly robbed the store. It could not have factored in to the cops behavior because he didn’t know.
3) (you missed this.)
4)agreed.
5) I would say at least one party is lying. Perhaps everyone. We do not know if the cop is/was lying…
6) nothing to dispute.
7) The autopsy by Baden says the shot to his arm shows 2 possible things.
a) he was shot from behind (not good for the cop) OR
b) he was shot when his hands were in the air or over his head in self defense. (not good for the cop). http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/did-michael-brown-have-his-hands-up-when-killed-by/article_f9904f19-dba5-58b4-ac4b-56b9bda29646.html
For now, I think mistakes have been made on all sides. The looters and rioters (vs protesters) give a bad name to anyone who questions what happened. The cops have mishandled it from the beginning – there should have been transparency, a suspension of the cop during the investigation, etc. Instead the Ferguson police stonewalled any inquiry or questions and operated in a very heavy handed way… contributing to the escalation of what happened on the streets. Assault weapons aimed at protesters is going a bit far for most people’s taste. Enough errors on both sides to keep this going.
