August 18, 2014
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Police shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on the streets of Ferguson. Originally, Police Chief Thomas Jackson said the officer shot Brown because he was a suspect in a robbery of cigars from a local convenience store. Then, Jackson amended his story, relating the shooting to Brown “walking down the middle of the street, blocking traffic.” Jackson claims Brown was shot resisting arrest, although at least 3 eyewitnesses have since come forward to corroborate that Brown had his hands in the air, but the police officer shot and killed him anyway.
Tiffany Mitchell, who was an eyewitness to the shooting said she saw Brown next to a police car struggling with an officer inside. Shortly after, a gunshot was fired.
“After the shot, the kid breaks away, and he starts running away from the cop,” Mitchell said. “The cop follows him, kept shooting, and the kid’s body jerked as if he was hit.”
Although Mitchell tried to record the struggle on her cell phone, she was too startled by the gunshots and took cover.
“After his body jerked, he turned around,” Mitchell said. “He puts his hands up, and the cop just continues to walk up on him and shoot him until he goes all the way down.”
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Dorian Johnson, who was walking with Brown when he was shot also spoke of the police officer overreacting and opening fire on them.
“The first car I see, I ducked behind for cover because I feared for my life. I’m scared. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t understand why this officer is shooting his weapon at us,” Johnson said. “My friend stopped running, his hands went immediately in the air and he turned around towards the officer, face-to-face. He started to tell the officer he was unarmed and that you should stop shooting me. Before he can get his second sentence out, the officer fired several more shots into his head and chest areas.”
“It was definitely like being shot like an animal,” Johnson added. “It was almost putting someone execution.”
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| Officer Darren Wilson |
For several days, the Ferguson Police Department absolutely refused to release the name of the police officer who killed the teen. However, police were eager to release a surveillance videotape from the convenience store showing a man stealing cigars, whom police believed to be Brown. Police allowed the tape to eviscerate Brown’s character for several days and to make the case be about stolen cigars, instead of an unarmed teen being killed by police — all the while protecting the identity of the officer who killed him. Only after the story became national news did police finally feel the pressure to identify the cop as Officer Darren Wilson, who is white.
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The public is holding police accountable for withholding vital information about the case. They’re also angry that police stirred the pot of emotion by refusing to identify Darren Wilson as the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, for releasing a videotape of Michael Brown’s “alleged” convenience store robbery, and for overreacting to peaceful protesters by using assault rifles, military tanks, tear gas and even attack dogs against them, which was reminiscent of a scene from the civil rights movement of the 1960’s.
Riot police have been prevalent in Ferguson, wearing military-style camouflage and carrying military-style rifles, their heads and faces obscured by black helmets and gas masks as they stood in front of an armored vehicle. “It didn’t look like America. It looked like Soweto,” said photographer Danny Lyon, referring to South Africa during its days of protest against apartheid. “It looked like soldiers. And soldiers’ job isn’t to protect. Their job is to kill people and to be ready to die.”
Michael Brown was an unarmed teen who was gunned down in cold blood and is now dead, yet police spent days trying to rip his reputation in the court of public opinion. The public is angry and his family and that community deserves answers. With the recent shooting death by police of a young black male in Los Angeles, with the recent strangling death by police of a 300 pound asthmatic man in Staten Island, NY, and now with the Michael Brown slaying by police in Missouri, it’s not strange to wonder: Is it open season on black men in America?
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Thanks for doing this post DJ. To say that this story has hit me hard (much like the Trayvon Martin tragedy) would be an UNderstatement (see my comments last Friday). This story is still unfolding and I'm waiting to hear the complete forensic and autopsy reports. But this we do know: As per the residents of Ferguson city, the Ferguson Police Dept. led by Chief Jackson have engaged in subjecting the Black residents of that city to blatant DISrespect and various forms of harassment (if not brutality) for many years. And now a young Black male lay dead today. Shot down like a dog in the street, for NO apparent legitimate reason, while UNarmed, with his HANDS UP. Shot by a white cop at least 6 times (including twice in the head as per info released thus far from the independent autopsy) after being stopped by that white cop for… Read more »