More evidence is emerging supporting Ferguson officer Darren Wilson’s claims in the shooting of Michael Brown. The most recent story states that Brown did not have his hands up in the air, as supporters have long claimed, when he was shot. The image of people holding her hands in the air has become the unifying symbol of case and the new evidence represents a new contradiction of the account of Brown’s friend, Dorian Johnson, who insisted that Brown was not shot in a struggle in the car and was shot with his hands in the air.
The fatal encounter between Wilson and Brown occurred shortly after Brown committed a strong arm robbery of a store owner in stealing some cigars:
However, Brown was unarmed when he was shot and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon quickly called for the prosecution of Wilson and referred to Brown as the victim and Eric Holder ordered a massive federal investigation of the shooting as a civil rights violation before the completion of the local investigation.
Much of the anger stemmed from the account of Johnson. As discussed earlier, the evidence indicates that Wilson was suffered some injuries in a struggle and that, consistent with his account, Brown was shot at close quarters, his blood was on the service weapon. The evidence also reportedly supports the claim that the gun was discarded within the car in a struggle.
Regardless of how one reads this evidence, it is another cautionary tale in rushing to judgment in such cases before the investigation is completed. The involvement of politicians and protesters in immediately demanding prosecution can have a highly distortive effect on such cases. There has been an immediate and negative response to any suggestions of evidence supporting the officer in this controversy. The fact is that this controversy — and subsequent rioting — was based on the account of Johnson and very early (and contested) stories of what occurred. As I have previously discussed, while the looting and rioting was not their fault, it was highly improper for politicians to assign guilt before the completion of even the initial investigation.
Wilson reportedly testified before the Grand Jury that he pulled over in his SUV to talk to Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson about the theft of cigarillos. He said that when tried to get out, Brown slammed the door shut and punched him in the face. He just that, when he reached for his weapon, Brown grabbed it and it was pointing for a time at Wilson in the struggling. He said that it was in this struggle that Brown was shot in the hand. He said that he then chased after Brown who allegedly turned and ran toward him. Wilson testified that he told him to stop and then fired. He said that when Wilson continued, he fired more shots.
The independent experts hired by the Post-Dispatch said that they believed that the evidence supported Wilson on some critical points and that a significant struggle occurred in direct and irreconcilable conflict with the account of Johnson. Forensic pathologist from San Francisco, Dr. Judy Melinek, said that Brown’s palms could not have been facing Wilson in the standard surrender position – with hands up and palms out – when he was shot. While other scenarios could explain the evidence and there is still the question of why so many shots were fired (even if the officer’s account is true), there may remain considerable conflicts in the original account.
Those conclusions would seem to support growing view that the Obama Administration also found insufficient evidence to support any federal charge in the shooting and is leaking stories to prepare people for the closing of the investigation.
Source: CBS
No, trooper, you do not get it.
Neither does Paul.
I see a pattern.
I think you are confusing two different cases of murderous thugs being shot during fights with the police. But I understand what you mean. In both cases the cops should have let the criminals kill them. Then we would be a-ok. Got it.
It’s a shame that the NYPD shot down that guy with the ax who planted it in the cops head. What where they thinking? I mean the guy was running away and all.
Paul C. Schulte
What you are not getting is that regardless of any jury instructions courts have realized that cops have had to make split second decisions. In Arizona, a felon can be shot if fleeing. They are always assumed a risk to the community at large.
==============================
An incorrect statement of the law.
If I am incorrect on the law, cite the correct law.
Those who get off on the Chris Rock video equate “beating” with “shot twice in the head, also shot 4 or so other times until dead.”
In other words, a lack of understanding of the difference between hitting and shooting to death.
I see a pattern.
trooperyork
The gun powder residue on Mr. Myers hands was in fact mustard from his sandwich.
So there is no physical evidence that a gun battle was going on. Only lunch.
============================
You are out to lunch.
What happened in the car is history.
What happened during the attempted escape is the future discussion in the criminal or civil courts.
The LEO cannot kill Brown just because he is escaping.
Brown is an escaping felon who has assaulted a police officer and attempted to murder him. Yes, he can kill him while trying to escape and he did.
Paul C. Schulte
bettykath – there are a lot of things you do when you have the time to think clearly but we know that Michael Brown had enough cannabis in his system to be hallucinating. Would he be thinking clearly??? I think not.
=============================================
The gravamen of the case is was Wilson thinking clearly while hopped up on racial authoritarianism.
That is not what gravamen means. Could I suggest a Black’s Law Dictionary?
The gun powder residue on Mr. Myers hands was in fact mustard from his sandwich.
So there is no physical evidence that a gun battle was going on. Only lunch.
http://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/michael-brown-autopsy-copy.jpg?w=640&h=863
Note the position of the bullet hole to the forearm. Picture your own arms up in a surrender position. It’s not a stretch to say his hands were up in surrender style when shot.
Nick Spinelli
TPM, PBS, MSNBC. LOL! Can HuffPo be far behind?
=======================================
Or perhaps even the Supreme Court on a law blog!
Gastly … what next … The Donald on faulty toupées?
Cop initiates an altercation and kills a teen running away.
An 18-year-old killed earlier this month by an off-duty St. Louis police officer was shot eight times, including six times from behind, said a forensic pathologist who performed an independent autopsy Thursday.
Dr. Cyril Wecht, who has investigated the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley and JonBenet Ramsey, conducted the autopsy at the request of Vonderrit Myers Jr.’s family and outlined the findings during a news conference at the funeral home that will handle Myers’ burial. The family’s attorneys said the autopsy suggests Myers was running away from the officer. Myers’ parents attended the autopsy announcement but did not comment.
“The evidence shows that the story we’ve been given by the Police Department does not match up,” one of the attorneys, Jerryl Christmas, said. “There’s no evidence that there was a gun battle going on.”
Wecht said it’s likely that Myers was initially shot six times in the back of both legs. He said another shot hit the side of the left leg, shattering his femur.
The fatal wound was to the side of Myers’ face, Wecht said.
bettykath – who did Wecht think killed JonBenet Ramsey?
on 1, October 24, 2014 at 9:35 am Annie said
“If one’s hands are up in a surrender motion, the shot to the back of the forearm would be consistent, no?”
In medicalese ‘normal anatomical position’ is arms at sides with palms forward. The anterior of a forearm has no hair.
So, no, not consistent.
Anyone who thinks this autopsy report changes anything is a fool.
We already knew there was a physical struggle in the vehicle and that a shot was fired. People who are bending over backwards to defend Wilson have been trying to obfuscate this for days.
If Brown had been shot and killed in the initial struggle at the car, we probably wouldn’t still be talking about it. We’d never know what actually happened, and it would be unclear enough that the whole thing would go away. But that’s not what happened. There were two incidents, one “justified,” one murder.
Brown was still shot from a distance of 30 feet (or more), and all witness based accounts of the incident say he was shot with his hands up.
trooperyork
He was not heading away. He was charging ready to kill. That is why the police officer is not being strung up the way you and Holder and all the rest of the race baiting liberals so earnestly desire. The actual testimony of on lookers other than this thugs accomplice supports this or Officer Wilson would already be incarcerated and the key thrown away. If they had the least chance of destroying this officer they would have at the least attempted it.
That is why you are wrong on this issue.
=============================
Your imagination is no substitute for reality.
The body lying in the street was over a hundred feet from the police car.
We are talking about two cases now.
The one you imagine and the real one.
The facts in Tennessee v Garner:
“At about 10:45 p. m. on October 3, 1974, Memphis Police Officers Elton Hymon and Leslie Wright were dispatched to answer a “prowler inside call.” Upon arriving at the scene they saw a woman standing on her porch and gesturing toward the adjacent house. She told them she had heard glass breaking and that “they” or “someone” was breaking in next door. While Wright radioed the dispatcher to say that they were on the scene, Hymon went behind the house. He heard a door slam and saw someone run across the backyard. The fleeing suspect, who was appellee-respondent’s decedent, Edward Garner, stopped at a 6-feet-high chain link fence at the edge of the yard. With the aid of a flashlight, Hymon was able to see Garner’s face and hands. He saw no sign of a weapon, and, though not certain, was “reasonably sure” and “figured” that Garner was unarmed. App. 41, 56; Record 219. He thought Garner was 17 or 18 years old and 4*4 about 5′ 5″ or 5′ 7″ tall. While Garner was crouched at the base of the fence, Hymon called out “police, halt” and took a few steps toward him. Garner then began to climb over the fence. Convinced that if Garner made it over the fence he would elude capture, Hymon shot him. The bullet hit Garner in the back of the head. Garner was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died on the operating table. Ten dollars and a purse taken from the house were found on his body.
…
In using deadly force to prevent the escape, Hymon was acting under the authority of a Tennessee statute and pursuant to Police Department policy. The statute provides that ‘[i]f, after notice of the intention to arrest the defendant, he either flee or forcibly resist, the officer may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest.’
..
The use of deadly force to prevent the escape of all felony suspects, whatever the circumstances, is constitutionally unreasonable. It is not better that all felony suspects die than that they escape. ” (Tennessee v Garner)
Missouri petite jury instructions:
“… But in making an arrest or preventing escape, a law enforcement officer is not entitled to use deadly force, that is, force which he knows will create a substantial risk of causing death or serious physical injury, unless he reasonably believes that the person being arrested is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon or that the person may endanger life or inflict serious physical injury unless arrested without delay …”
Jack, It wasn’t an impromptu response to a question, it was a prepared statement at a press conference called by the chief.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-evidence-supports-officers-account-of-shooting-in-ferguson/2014/10/22/cf38c7b4-5964-11e4-bd61-346aee66ba29_story.html
Excerpt:
Victor W. Weedn, chairman of the George Washington University Department of Forensic Sciences, said the autopsy report raises doubts about whether Brown’s hands were raised at the time of the shooting but is not conclusive.
“Somebody could have raised their hands way above their head and lowered their hands and then be shot,” Weedn said. “So an autopsy will never rule out that the hands were above the head. It can only say what happened at the time of the shooting. . . . With the graze to the right arm, it appears the arm was in a vertical position, suggesting that it was closer to down by his side, but it could have been higher.”
He was not heading away. He was charging ready to kill. That is why the police officer is not being strung up the way you and Holder and all the rest of the race baiting liberals so earnestly desire. The actual testimony of on lookers other than this thugs accomplice supports this or Officer Wilson would already be incarcerated and the key thrown away. If they had the least chance of destroying this officer they would have at the least attempted it.
That is why you are wrong on this issue.
So, oh enlightened one, exactly what is the gravamen of this case?
Jack,
When are you going to grasp the gravamen of the case?
You might as well talk about how tall the trees were in the neighbourhood.
trooperyork
I think that when a criminal attacks a police officer and his life and the lives of others are in eminent danger then the police officer is justified in using any force including deadly force.
…
==============================
That you think that is obvious even to yourself.
What is not obvious is that it is not the law when one is heading away from the officer in an escape or avoidance attempt.
The case Tennessee v Garner has been linked to and mentioned as have the jury instructions given in such scenarios.
You think about what is not relevant.
That is why you are wrong on this issue.
What you are not getting is that regardless of any jury instructions courts have realized that cops have had to make split second decisions. In Arizona, a felon can be shot if fleeing. They are always assumed a risk to the community at large.