I have spent a great deal of my holiday time reviewing every page of the Ferguson Grand Jury transcript. Should Missouri Police Officer, Darren Wilson, 28, have been indicted for first or second-degree murder or for voluntary or involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of an African-American, 18-year-old, Michael Brown?
The decision not to indict was a difficult one. The Grand Jury overstayed their term by 2 ½ months. Their official term was to end September 10th. St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch addressed jury members on their first Ferguson day, August 20th. He went through the logistics of the possible criminal and civil rights violations to consider. He talked of the agencies involved and the fact jurors could only discuss the case when no one else was in the room. He noted, “Everything you see and hear will be released to the public.”
Jurors could ask questions and take notes. McCulloch closed by saying he hoped deliberations would be completed by the middle of October. He would never appear before the Ferguson Grand Jury again.
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All of my information comes from the Ferguson Grand Jury transcript. The initial release date was Monday, November 24th at 9PM. These contents were followed by subsequent additional transcript pages released on December 8th and either December 12th or 15th. In my prologue, I indicated that there were no releases of photos, maps or diagrams. I just found over 250 photos from the case at this New York Times site. There’s still no sign of maps or diagrams, and, in truth, the photos still leave a lot of unanswered questions without context.
It should be noted that it took over a week before Ferguson PD would reveal Darren Wilson’s name as the officer involved in the shooting. Also worth noting, Wilson resigned November 29th, five days after the release of the Grand Jury transcript.
What follows was Wilson’s first recounting of the incident as told to an unidentified Sergeant, the first Ferguson PD Supervisor on the scene after the shooting.
“Wilson told the Sergeant he had been involved in a shooting and the subject (not named, but clearly Michael Brown) was now deceased. He had previously told the subject, who had been walking down the middle of Canfield Dr. with another male (Dorian Johnson) to “get out of the roadway and over to the sidewalk.” The Sergeant then said Wilson attempted to exit his vehicle and “contact” the males. After he attempted the exit, a struggle at the driver’s side door began after the subject (Brown) shut the driver’s side door on him. The subject would not let Wilson get out of his car. “The subject began assaulting P.O. (police officer) Wilson through the driver’s side window while P.O. Darren Wilson was still inside his police vehicle.” The assault escalating to the point where the subject tried to take P.O. Wilson’s firearm and P.O. Darren Wilson fired at least one gunshot while inside the vehicle.” P.O. was used repeatedly in the Sergeant’s report.
The subject then ran east on Canfield Drive. P.O. Darren Wilson exited his vehicle and gave chase on foot. During the foot chase, Brown turned around and began running toward Wilson. The officer indicated to the Sergeant that as the subject was charging toward him, Wilson fired his weapon to stop the subject from assaulting him further. The Sergeant did not believe the subject displayed a gun and the whereabouts of the Johnson were unknown.
This cursory explanation, with some large holes in it, did not necessarily mean Wilson is trying to hide something. The officer had been through the very traumatic experience of taking a young man’s life and was, most likely, in a mild, temporary state of shock. Once Wilson was possessed of all his faculties, objective observers might not be as forgiving
.
The next time Wilson found his voice, (and an attorney from the police union), the explanation had evolved into a highly detailed and expanded summary. The second interview was with a St. Louis County Police Detective. It started around 2:00 in the Ferguson police station and continued in the trauma room at a local hospital. A lieutenant Colonel and detective from the Ferguson PD were also present at both the station and hospital.
Wilson repeated the lines of his first interview when he pulled up to two young men walking down the middle of the street and told them to get out of the roadway and over to the sidewalk. The only difference in interview number two being his quote of “Hey guys, why don’t you walk on the sidewalk?” He then adds that Johnson said they were almost to their destination, while Brown responded with “The ‘ef’ with what you say”, as “both subjects continued to walk past the patrol vehicle. Wilson then says he called dispatch and requested backup while putting his vehicle in reverse, backed up toward the subjects and said “Hey, come here.” He had skipped the backing step in the initial questioning.
Brown then slammed the door of Wilson’s SUV patrol vehicle twice, holding it shut the second time. The officer then says (for the first time) he ordered Brown to “get back and move away from the vehicle.” Brown then thrusts his upper body into the open window of the patrol vehicle and starts punching the officer, swinging wildly. He also grabs for his (Wilson’s) gun. This pretty much tracks the first accounting. New to the story was Wilson’s unsuccessful attempt to reach for the mace in his duty belt. We then hear more about the gun. Brown had grabbed it and directed the barrel towards Wilson’s hip, saying “You’re too much of a pussy to shoot me.”
The officer managed to redirect the barrel toward the door and tried to pull the trigger twice. The gun malfunctioned each time. Wilson speculated it was because Brown’s hand was on the weapon. On the third pull, a round was fired. Wilson thought it went through the door, though the bullet was actually trapped in the door and did not strike Brown, The projectile did shatter the glass in the lowered window in the door panel.
Another misfire and another successful firing followed. Wilson only told of one firing when first interviewed. In both versions however, the subject fled with Wilson giving chase on foot. The first interview said nothing of a further assault. The second time around, Brown supposedly struck Wilson a couple of times after the second shot, before running.
Both versions tracked Brown to the point where he stopped and turned around about 30 feet distant, immediately placing his right hand in his waistband. In version number two, Wilson purportedly yelled verbal commands at Brown to “stop and get on the ground.” As in both stories, Brown “charged him.” In interview one, Wilson fired to keep from being assaulted further. In number two Wilson discharged 5 rounds from 15 feet, then 2 rounds as the charge continued, then a final fatal round when Brown leaned forward as if prepared to tackle him. Wilson said if Brown reached him, he knew he would be done.
Next on the agenda, the injury report and a succession of credible and incredible “eyewitnesses.”
Raised rural & small town, then lived in N.Y., Chicago & LA. Widely traveled. Returned from world wandering to pursue media life of anchorman/reporter and major, medium and small market talk radio. Highly active in politics. Once worked as orderly & security in Mens Lock Ward for the Criminally Insane at a state institution. Much more rational population than current Teapublicans. Great concern for country run by and for the extreme wealthy. The inhumane current running through this country has no precedent in modern history.
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