Really?? Then I stand corrected. Some analysts on CNN said he was within a few months of being vested in his pension, so I foolishly accepted that as fact. Well, that and the fact that the guy himself looks like a doughy, middle-aged guy. Thanks for the information.
The GJ chose not to charge him. They did not find that he did anything criminally wrong (or, there wasn't enough evidence such).... no determination has ever been made that Wilson did nothing wrong. You can say that he did nothing criminal; but you really have no basis to say he did nothing wrong.
They decided not to indict Wilso, because they determined that he didn't commit a crime. That means he's innocent.
imo, the shoplifting has little to nothing to do with the incident. Brown was not shot because he shoplifted cigars.
OK let's forget completely what happened at the store. Brown was walking in traffic and would not leave the street, then he attacked the officer in his truck.
Was that OK for him to do, or did that show his mindset that he would kill the officer given the chance?
Wilson did not give him a second chance to do that. You cannot blame him for that.
Of course not. I have been trying to divorce what happened in the convenience store with the shooting throughout this entire thread. Other people keep bringing up the convenience store events to define him as a thug and, because he was a thug, he somehow is worthy of being shot. I have been trying to pierce that twisted logic all long.
Don't confuse not being deemed criminally culpable (which is the only thing the GJ determined -- not to press charges) with the idea that he is lilly white. He has not moved beyond the questioning as to whether he handled the situation correctly and competently.
In actuality, The GJ only decided not to prosecute. They make no determination of innocence; they only weigh the evidence to pursue prosecution. None of us really know the actual conclusion of the GJ (they might have concluded there might have been criminal wrong-doing, but just too much "he said - she said" to ever be successful.)
Wilson is only innocent based upon the presumption of innocence ..... which, BTW, is the same presumption that needs to be extended to Brown, for the same reason.
An unarmed youth was shot to death, and his shooter has walked away with half a million dollars fighting fund donated by angry old white men.
That's really a shame. The guy has been on the force nearly 20 years, and if he resigns now he loses his entire pension. Since forensic evidence proves the veracity of his account of what happened, his life has been destroyed, martyred on the altar of presumptive racism. Really sad.
This cop is a hero in many pockets of America. I see him landing on his feet and doing okay. Hell, he could ALWAYS move to Texas. They would love to have him on the force.
There are plenty of cities here in Texas that would welcome the likes of Wilson on the force. Vidor, Texas comes to mind.
People really do not know exactly what happened in the street.... there is a lot of he said / she said. We only know that an unarmed man had an altercation of some type with a police officer and then ended up dead. We also know that a GJ looked at all the evidence and made the recommendation that there should not be a criminal prosecution. We don't know how rigorous the GJ process really was; we only know its outcome. EVERYTHING else is speculation or reasoned speculation.
Great lesson out there for everyone.
If you're a cop and you shoot a thug who attacked you, if he happens to be black, you're done for.
In other words, cops should let blacks get off the hook for anything or else they'll lose their job.
Blacks seem to be a privileged class in the USA these days over all other racial groups. Just like the nobility of old, if you touch them or do anything to them, your ass is on the line.
Although I think that the grand jury decision was mostly right, I am skeptical that in the case of Michael Brown, the officer handled the situation as well as he should have. How does a professional peace officer go from making an ID on a suspect that stole some cigars to turning him into swiss cheese? I fully realize that Michael Brown attacked him... but why did the officer put himself into that position? Why didn't he wait for backup? All I am saying is on that fateful day, it seems like he didn't handle the situation as he was trained to do and made some critical mistakes.
Do you reject the evidence of Brown attacking the officer in his truck and firing off 2 rounds inside the vehicle?
Brown was shot at that point. I believe there was gun shot residue on Browns hand.
I you accept this evidence, then we do know what happened in the street.
Without video evidence, we're left with the forensics, the officer's statements, and conflicting witness testimony, much of which was weeded out as witnesses admitted they hadn't really seen what they told the tv cameras they'd seen, along with other witnesses who backed up the officer with statements that never wavered.
1.) Michael Brown had parts of his body inside the officer's car, assaulted the officer with one or more punches to the head, and had his hand on the officer's gun when it was fired inside the car. The placement of Brown's blood inside the car, along with contact gunshot residue on Brown's hand, proved that.
2.) Wilson had called for backup, and his training required him to keep the suspect in sight, repeatedly demanding that he drop to the ground. Blood and other forensic evidence proved that Michael Brown ran about 100 feet, then turned and began to move back toward Wilson. Then and only then did the gunfire begin. The final shot took place when Brown, who outweighed Wilson by nearly 100 pounds, was 8 to 10 feet away. There was no time for backup to arrive before the shooting began, and the officer's shots were fired as he realized that Brown was capable of killing him if he reached him. It was self-defense.
Wilson had approximately 15 seconds to make every decision he made. It's easy for all of us out here to say, "why didn't he just taze him"... the kid was too far away for a taser, assuming Wilson had one, when he exited the car, then turned and headed back too fast to change weapons; "why did he fire so many times"... he's not a great shot, this was the first time Wilson had ever fired his weapon on duty and the kid was moving fast; "why didn't he just let the kid get away"... as a police officer, it's Wilson's job not to do that. And on and on. It's a whole 'nother ballgame to be there and realize if you make the wrong choice, you have seconds to live.
This isn't the Martin/Zimmerman case, where a swaggering civilian provoked a completely unnecessary confrontation with a young, slightly-built kid. This was a police officer facing a massive opponent who was, in the officer and some witnesses words, "charging" him. The grand jury only had to find "probable cause" to indict, which is the lowest possible standard. They couldn't find that, because the evidence didn't even support the lowest possible standard.
Personally, I wonder where all the outrage and pickets were when Fullerton, Calif., police officers... 3-6 of them... surrounded a mentally ill (white) man, tased him three times after he was already on the ground, then proceeded to beat him so badly every bone in his face was broken, his black/blue face was swollen to the size of a beachball, and he died within hours. Those officers went to trial... and were acquitted. That is the kind of blatant, outrageous police brutality abuse and failure of justice that makes me want to scream and puke. Not the Michael Brown case. Assault a cop, try to get a cop's gun, and finally charge a cop with his weapon drawn... well, you're going down. Period.
...they have an important job to do, but nobody really likes them.
/double like Di. Best post in this whole thread.
I think Upsideguy and others in this thread need to read this.
I like cops. I think cops are awesome. Yes, some not so great cops, but I will always come down on the side of the cops. They do an incredible job, see horrific things and are decent human beings having to deal with the scum of society on a daily basis.
I think this ^ mindset is a big part of the problem that exists in the Ferguson PD and others like it.
- I struggle with the fact that Wilson made a decision not to carry a taser because it's cumbersome. You can get used to using a taser and it stops being so cumbersome. You get used to it and become efficient with it.
- I struggle with the statement that Wilson made regarding his mace. I understand why he didn't use it while he was in the vehicle but he wasn't in the vehicle when he killed Brown. He had an opportunity to apprehend someone using tactics he'd been trained in but he didn't do that.
I think the value Wilson placed on the human life in Ferguson is reflected, somewhat, in those decisions.
Without video evidence, we're left with the forensics, the officer's statements, and conflicting witness testimony, much of which was weeded out as witnesses admitted they hadn't really seen what they told the tv cameras they'd seen, along with other witnesses who backed up the officer with statements that never wavered.
1.) Michael Brown had parts of his body inside the officer's car, assaulted the officer with one or more punches to the head, and had his hand on the officer's gun when it was fired inside the car. The placement of Brown's blood inside the car, along with contact gunshot residue on Brown's hand, proved that.
2.) Wilson had called for backup, and his training required him to keep the suspect in sight, repeatedly demanding that he drop to the ground. Blood and other forensic evidence proved that Michael Brown ran about 100 feet, then turned and began to move back toward Wilson. Then and only then did the gunfire begin. The final shot took place when Brown, who outweighed Wilson by nearly 100 pounds, was 8 to 10 feet away. There was no time for backup to arrive before the shooting began, and the officer's shots were fired as he realized that Brown was capable of killing him if he reached him. It was self-defense.
Wilson had approximately 15 seconds to make every decision he made. It's easy for all of us out here to say, "why didn't he just taze him"... the kid was too far away for a taser, assuming Wilson had one, when he exited the car, then turned and headed back too fast to change weapons; "why did he fire so many times"... he's not a great shot, this was the first time Wilson had ever fired his weapon on duty and the kid was moving fast; "why didn't he just let the kid get away"... as a police officer, it's Wilson's job not to do that. And on and on. It's a whole 'nother ballgame to be there and realize if you make the wrong choice, you have seconds to live.
This isn't the Martin/Zimmerman case, where a swaggering civilian provoked a completely unnecessary confrontation with a young, slightly-built kid. This was a police officer facing a massive opponent who was, in the officer and some witnesses words, "charging" him. The grand jury only had to find "probable cause" to indict, which is the lowest possible standard. They couldn't find that, because the evidence didn't even support the lowest possible standard.
Personally, I wonder where all the outrage and pickets were when Fullerton, Calif., police officers... 3-6 of them... surrounded a mentally ill (white) man, tased him three times after he was already on the ground, then proceeded to beat him so badly every bone in his face was broken, his black/blue face was swollen to the size of a beachball, and he died within hours. Those officers went to trial... and were acquitted. That is the kind of blatant, outrageous police brutality abuse and failure of justice that makes me want to scream and puke. Not the Michael Brown case. Assault a cop, try to get a cop's gun, and finally charge a cop with his weapon drawn... well, you're going down. Period.
/double like Di. Best post in this whole thread.
I think Upsideguy and others in this thread need to read this.
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