Michael Brown Shooting: The Aftermath of the Grand Jury Decision

[sToNED_CAT]

If there's one thing I'm certain of in this whole mess, it's that this guy has no business being a police officer. His interview with Stephanopoulos convinced me of that. In it, Wilson stated that he had no regrets regarding the incident, and he would've done nothing differently if faced with the same circumstance again. :stunned:

If Brown really attacked him, why should he have any regrets?

I just still can't get my head round the idea of a country where so many people find it acceptable that people are killed for committing petty crimes.

He wasn't killed for committing petty crime. He was (officially) killed when attacking police officer.

The story changed from stopping a kid on the road to claiming Wilson had received a call from police HQ about a robbery at the variety store, and that he had stopped Brown because he matched the description. They even produced a log book claiming Wilson had received the call, even though the shop owner said he hadn't called police. Nice bit of magic policing, there.

The store owner explicitly said that the call was made by customer.

Johnson's testimony is quite a bit different than Wilson's interpretation.

No one gives a shit about what Dorian Johnson says, because :

a/ he was Brown's accomplice in robbery

b/ he has history of making false claims to police

c/ physical evidence collected on scene is in conflict with some (important) parts of his testimony.

[The Fallen]

To anyone from the inner-city, Dorian Johnson's version of the initial events is the realistic one. That's how cops interact with us. Aggressively and disrespectfully.

The evidence barely supports that a fight took place. Wilson had no serious injuries and he didn't seem distressed.

I have to assume that most of the posters who take Wilson's word have never had any serious interactions with cops. Hence, they're naivety about how cops behave in minority neighborhoods.

[Summah]

Yes, Wilson telling them "get the fuck out of the street" is much more likely and credible than Wilson's account where he was much more polite.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

OK, there is at least one positive story related to the Brown case.

http://news.yahoo.com/portlands-ferguson-protest-boy-hugs-officer-174417767.html

Very cool pic and story. Thanks for posting it.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

If Brown really attacked him, why should he have any regrets?

Because he's a human being, perhaps? He killed a 19 year old kid! How can he not have regrets?

[The Mance]

Yes, Wilson telling them "get the fuck out of the street" is much more likely and credible than Wilson's account where he was much more polite.

Especially given the other video that surfaced of Wilson swearing at and then lying to the guy with the video camera. I have no problem believing cops in general, and Wilson in particular, treat people with contempt and derision.

[mormont]

If Brown really attacked him, why should he have any regrets?

If I killed an unarmed teenager, even justifiably, I would certainly have regrets. I would regret that it had happened. I would wonder what I could have done differently, if something I could have done could have avoided the shooting.

Even if I genuinely had no regrets, I would certainly not say that out loud and on the record, because I would realise that comes off as insensitive to the feelings of the bereaved family members, and somewhat crass too.

And even if I didn't care about that, I'd realise that saying I have no regrets inevitably makes me sound defensive and more concerned with covering my own backside than anything else.

I'm very happy that a guy who doesn't get any of this should remove himself from policing, because he doesn't seem cut out for it.

[TrueMetis]

Because he's a human being, perhaps? He killed a 19 year old kid! How can he not have regrets?

That he doesn't regret killing Brown says a lot about his character. Regret for killing someone is pretty much a given always, except perhaps the more hardened soldiers, and the insane, and when you don't actually see the person you killed as a human. So which is it? Wilson sure as hell isn't a hardened soldier, I hope he's not insane, which really only leave one options doesn't it?

[TerraPrime]

No one gives a shit about what Dorian Johnson says, because :

a/ he was Brown's accomplice in robbery

When will people like you stop with the character assasination? Has Dorian been arrested? Has he been charged? Has he been indicted? Has he been convicted?

For a group of people who rally under the technicality of innocens of Wilson based on a Grand Jury decision, you all seem very qucik to throw someone else under the bus without trial, without even being arrested or charged. Why is that?

c/ physical evidence collected on scene is in conflict with some (important) parts of his testimony.

I am going to bet a Starbucks latté that if you talk to residents of Ferguson, Johnson's description of how Wislon interacted with Brown and Johnson rings a whole lot more true than the version that Wilson gave. It doesn't mean that Johnson's account is 100% reliable, but it is no less reliable than any other witness accounts.

[Commodore]

So much wasted energy and pointless destruction trying to fit this into the "racist white cop kills innocent black kid" narrative, when none of the evidence support that.

Michael Brown robbed/threatened a store owner, then beat up a cop and attempted to take his gun to most likely shoot him. Shed no tears for him. Worse things have happened to far better people.

Wilson was just doing his job, trying to provide for his family, and Brown (along with the pitchfork encouraging media) ruined his life.

[TerraPrime]

So much wasted energy and pointless destruction trying to fit this into the "racist white cop kills innocent black kid" narrative, when none of the evidence support that.

Michael Brown robbed/threatened a store owner, then beat up a cop and attempted to take his gun to most likely shoot him. Shed no tears for him. Worse things have happened to far better people.

Wilson was just doing his job, trying to provide for his family, and Brown (along with the pitchfork encouraging media) ruined his life.

Way to not read any of the posts or threads. But thanks for sharing your opinion, any way.

[JoeyBanana]

So much wasted energy and pointless destruction trying to fit this into the "racist white cop kills innocent black kid" narrative, when none of the evidence support that.

A satirist in my country once said that the bourgeoisie always protests first and peacefully and reasonably because they truly understand the problem, but when they get denied reforms and positive change, it won't take long and the proletariat that shares the same anger and frustration without the necessary ability to differentiate takes over; after that there will be blood and destruction. Bad translation, but there you go, i hope the sentiment is recognizable.

The responsibility of the blame (which is apparently so fundamentally important in all things outrageous and scandalous as opposed to, you know, a solution to the problem - but of course, assigning blame is a necessity when arguing that there is no "problem" in the first place) has to be divided between the people doing the harm and the government/state ignoring or denying the issue to such an extent that some see violence and rioting as their only available option for change. Simply put; if a state refuses to listen to its own people and their needs, it will be compelled to listen eventually and how do you get someone to pay attention to you and your problems if he doesn't want to? You use force.

Oh and "outside troublemakers" is a stupid deflection and you should stop using it, seriously. It's like that voter fraud thing your republicans are always going on about or the european "anti-EU" movements when they talk about Europe being taken over by Islam - absolute BS.

Not all of my post was directed at you personally, by the way, so please be offended if you like but know that i'm pre-emptively taking away your toys to play "it doesn't count because you misrepresented my argument". I don't care about it anyway, my point is far more important to me, for purely narcissistic reasons, of course.

[Tywin Manderly]

Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury

In the Rewrite, Lawrence looks at a major correction the assistant prosecutors had to make to the grand jury in the Michael Brown case.

[TrueMetis]

Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury

In the Rewrite, Lawrence looks at a major correction the assistant prosecutors had to make to the grand jury in the Michael Brown case.

What the fuck!?

[The Fallen]

I thought you guys had read that already. I guess I shouldn't assume. The Prosecutor is the embodiment of corrupt.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

How do you frame that as a mistake? Do you honestly believe that the D.A. didn't know this law had been overturned? This is malfeasance, straight up.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

So much wasted energy and pointless destruction trying to fit this into the "racist white cop kills innocent black kid" narrative, when none of the evidence support that.

Michael Brown robbed/threatened a store owner, then beat up a cop and attempted to take his gun to most likely shoot him. Shed no tears for him. Worse things have happened to far better people.

Wilson was just doing his job, trying to provide for his family, and Brown (along with the pitchfork encouraging media) ruined his life.

Just wow. This is the most skewed analysis I've seen yet. Have you even seen the pictures of Wilson. He looked like a 6 year old slapped him and he got a slightly fatter lip.

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

Shocking mistake in Darren Wilson grand jury

In the Rewrite, Lawrence looks at a major correction the assistant prosecutors had to make to the grand jury in the Michael Brown case.

This particular thing is much ado about nothing. Here is why. The shortest but perhaps least satisfying reason is that Wilson didn't rely on the "arrest power" statute (§563.046) for his justification for shooting Brown. He never in any of his testimony before the Grand Jury claimed that he shot Brown in order to effectuate his arrest. His justification was straight-up self defense (§563.031).

The slightly longer but perhaps more satisfying reason that this is much ado about nothing is that §563.046 was not held to be unconstututional in its entirety in Tennessee v. Garner. It was held to be unconstitutional in application to a non-dangerous suspect. It was not held to be unconstitutional in application to a dangerous suspect. The law still exists on the books, and it is a perfectly valid law except as applied to non-dangerous suspects. This makes it problematic to explain to the grand jury. While it was no doubt a mistake to just hand them the statute, they were ultimately given a corrected hand-out explaining, correctly, the contours of the availability of the use of lethal force to effectuate an arrest. Which, again, was never the basis of why Wilson claimed he shot Brown.

[Stubby]

So much wasted energy and pointless destruction trying to fit this into the "racist white cop kills innocent black kid" narrative, when none of the evidence support that.

Michael Brown robbed/threatened a store owner, then beat up a cop and attempted to take his gun to most likely shoot him. Shed no tears for him. Worse things have happened to far better people.

Wilson was just doing his job, trying to provide for his family, and Brown (along with the pitchfork encouraging media) ruined his life.

Whereas Wilson, you know, ended Brown's life. :rolleyes:

[TerraPrime]

Re: Nestor

I had a feeling that there's an explanation for that. I can't imagine even McCulloch would have done such a blatantly illegal thing. Thanks for clarifying.

Also, it's way past now, but I stand corrected on the number of witnesses who seem to corroborate Wilson's statement about Brown advancing towards him after Brown had initially moved away from Wilson.