Update from Ferguson

[Content Note: Police brutality; victim-blaming; racism.]

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson held a press conference this morning in which the name of the officer who killed Michael Brown was finally made public.

During that press conference, Jackson:

1. Named the officer: Darren Wilson.

2. Noted that Wilson has no record of disciplinary action.

3. Provided no details of the interaction between Wilson and Brown that resulted in the deadly shooting.

4. Said that Michael Brown was the suspect in a robbery shoplifting.

Following the press conference, information was made available to the media, including a police report that details the robbery shoplifting* in which Brown was a suspect and still images from the camera at the scene of the robbery shoplifting.

This information has clearly been made available in order to explain and justify Officer Wilson's shooting of Michael Brown. I wish it went without saying that none of that actually explains or justifies their officer shooting and killing Brown—especially why he was shot multiple times with his hands in the air.

The police are essentially contending that it's better to kill a suspect than let him go and then take a minute to investigate, i.e. do their job.

Which is to say nothing of all the alarming inconsistencies in this account. The police did not have that security footage (in which it's not remotely evident that's Michael Brown) when Wilson encountered Brown. It's being released after the fact.

At the press conference Jackson stated that a 911 call was placed about a robbery shoplifting at the convenience store at 11:51am, and a description of the suspect was broadcast. Exactly ten minutes later, at 12:01pm, Wilson encountered Michael Brown, and by 12:04 he was dead.

The officer did not have access to the information in the police report, nor to the still images, when he encountered Brown. Brown merely "fit the description."

Also: Witnesses have said repeatedly that Wilson told Brown and his friend to "get on the sidewalk," which "isn't consistent with 'Brown was a suspect, which is why we stopped him.'" Further, if Brown was a suspect in a robbery shoplifting allegedly committed by two men, why have the police not interviewed (or arrested) his friend Dorian Johnson, who is listed in their report as Brown's alleged accomplice?

This is just complete bullshit. It utterly defies credulity.

And even if it were all true, it still does not explain or justify Officer Wilson shooting and killing Michael Brown.

Fuck this. This is just another betrayal of the people of Ferguson.

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* It is not entirely clear (to me) what the correct terminology here should be: Robbery, shoplifting, or strong-arm robbery. Please see comments for further discussion. To state the obvious, Michael Brown was convicted of none of these crimes, and although the police are describing it as a strong-arm robbery, they are not neutral actors. The long and short of it is, there was a theft of some sort during which a weapon was not used and no one was injured.