Couple of points...

 

1) It is typically easy to get an indictment. For there not to be an indictment the evidence had to be pretty overwhelming. These jurors are human and well aware of the impact of their decision and were not insulated from the media circus of the past few months.

 

2) I was shocked at some of the responses by some of my African American friends on facebook. Obviously I cannot relate, but many were justifying the actions of those in Ferguson (eg. "I know it is vandalism and criminal, but....") and some were disappointed in the President's remarks.

You don't know the exact distance, but you know it wasn't close to 30 yards?

 

Even if Wilson was following Brown, it's possible that he wasn't gaining any ground on him.

 

30 feet away, in my opinion, is too far away to start shooting at someone you've already shot twice.

 

Yeah I know it wasn't 30 yards because the shooting happened 30 yards (100ft+) or so from the car. Wilson was following him also moving away from the car. He was some where in between Brown and the car 30 yards away...so yes I know he was closer than that.

 

How close do you let a charging man get before you shoot him? 30 feet is less than 10 steps to someone that is charging you or less than 2 seconds away...so how close do you let a charging man get before you shoot if you think he means you harm?

The whole narrative of being close to the car came about based on the comments made by the chief. I don't think many media members have said anything about distance one way or the other.

Media has repeatedly repeated that he was shot 100+ feet away from the car without stating that Wilson was also away from the car. You can tell by peoples comments being interviewed and commenting on FB and Twitter and BGP that they all felt the shooting occurred at some great distance when in fact it did not. Even last night on CNN one reporter mentioned that the shooting happening at such great distance is what is so troubling to him and others.

I don't have a specific number per say, but the distance matters.

 

I guess I'm more concerned about the distance at the last shot. If it truly was ten feet that's way too close for my comfort if I'm in that position. If I start shooting at 30 feet and finally stop the person coming at me at ten feet, it seems like I made a good decision to start when I did.

I guess I'm more concerned about the distance at the last shot. If it truly was ten feet that's way too close for my comfort if I'm in that position. If I start shooting at 30 feet and finally stop the person coming at me at ten feet, it seems like I made a good decision to start when I did.

 

I don't have a problem with the final shot being at 10 feet. The distance at which he started shooting is what I'm concerned with.

 

According to this witness he said he was about 5 to 10 yards away when he started charging. That means he was only 30 feet away when started to charge the Officer and when the officer started firing. 10 yards can be covered in just a couple seconds we all know and 10 feet away when the final shot was fired is a split second away.

Couple of points... 1) It is typically easy to get an indictment. For there not to be an indictment the evidence had to be pretty overwhelming. These jurors are human and well aware of the impact of their decision and were not insulated from the media circus of the past few months. 2) I was shocked at some of the responses by some of my African American friends on facebook. Obviously I cannot relate' date=' but many were justifying the actions of those in Ferguson (eg. "I know it is vandalism and criminal, but....") and some were disappointed in the President's remarks.[/quote']

 

1 is true if it is not a police officer.

1 is true if it is not a police officer.

 

I know that has been a talking point but you are going to have to give us more than that. I may be ignorant of the laws, but is there something in place that protects police officers from indictments, regardless of the evidence?

Just in case the picture of the testimony isn't easily read, I will quote what the witness stated about when the shooting started.

 

This was after the witness spoke about seeing Brown fighting with the officer in the car and he thought he killed the officer, as he stated he thought he just witnessed an officer's murder.

 

HEre is what he stated after Brown took off running away from the car

 

"So, the police officer exited the vehicle with his weapon drawn pursuing Mr. Brown. Mr Brown was quite a distance and he stopped and when he stopped he didn't get down on the ground or anything. He turned around and he did some type of movement. I never seen him put his hands up or anything. I can't recall the movement that he did. I'm not sure if he pulled his pants up or-or whateve he did but I seen some type of movement and he started charging towards the officer. The police officer then returned fire, well, not returned fire, open fire on Mr Brown. Um, if I had to guess the shots and the - the distance between him and, a, Mr Brown, it would have been five to ten yards and the shots were fired was four, five to six shots fired."

1 is true if it is not a police officer.

 

And even if the first sentence is not true, I still stand behind my stance that it had to be overwhelming given the circumstances around this case.

I know that has been a talking point but you are going to have to give us more than that. I may be ignorant of the laws' date=' but is there something in place that protects police officers from indictments, regardless of the evidence?[/quote']

 

I apologize for the brevity. I am driving.

I apologize for the brevity. I am driving.

 

Law breaker.

It is amazing to me how people are trying to make things "fit" into a narrative. Here are the facts we now know:

 

(1) Brown robbed a store and bullied the owner shortly before the altercation. Shows he is not the choir boy the media originally made him out to be.

(2) Brown was walking down the middle of the street basically just to be a nuisance.

(3) Brown had drugs in his system (shows he is probably not in the best state of mind).

(4) Brown charged a cop in his car causing some bodily harm (not as much bodily harm as some reported but it did have to shake the cop up).

(5) Brown ran away with cop following telling him to stop. Cop SHOULD be following him because Brown should be arrested for assaulting the cop in the car.

(6) Brown stops and charges cop at some point. WHAT SHOULD THE COP DO?? Hug it out?? This is a large, drug induced man charging the cop and Brown has already tried to get his gun in the car!

 

If Brown was white or the cop was black, this would have gotten zero attention. The media guys who have tried to crucify the cop based on no evidence should be ashamed of themselves. It is a shame Brown was killed but he frankly brought it on himself. He attacked a cop TWICE!

 

The police officer's life will never be the same again and he is truly a victim here.

I have not (and will not) read the last 20 pages, but I will share my two cents.

First, it is a tragedy when ANYONE dies: heart attack, old age, car wreck, and yes, a police shooting.

Second, photos of the officer indicate he was struck in the head at least 2 or 3 times, and at least 6 witnesses (all African American) testified that the victim turned back and rushed at the officer. Maybe he was in a panic because of the shoplifting - who knows - but he did what he did. And so did the officer.

Third, I am so disappointed in our media I do not know what to say. Where is Walter Cronkite when we need him?

Fourth, vandalizing businesses coast to coast, stealing liquor and laughing about it? That is how we "remember" the deceased?

Fifth, forget about this case for a moment... clear your mind and consider the following: You hear on the radio, "Bob Jones was acquitted of the rape and murder of Betty Smith, and there is now rioting in the streets as businesses are being looted and a police car is being overturned by a group of teenagers." What color did you assign to Bob, Betty, the looters or the teenagers? Are you guilty of racial profiling? Reminds me of the John Grisham book, A Time to Kill.

Bottom line for me is this: It doesn't matter if you are black, white, yellow, purple or green. Stealing and striking a police officer are wrong. Going back after that same officer may very well get you killed. Looting and setting businesses of fire are wrong. Reporting the "facts" in a one-sided manner (for either side) is wrong. Looking for your 15 minutes of fame courtesy of this young man's death is wrong. Gosh, so much "wrong" here...

Just in case the picture of the testimony isn't easily read, I will quote what the witness stated about when the shooting started.

 

This was after the witness spoke about seeing Brown fighting with the officer in the car and he thought he killed the officer, as he stated he thought he just witnessed an officer's murder.

 

HEre is what he stated after Brown took off running away from the car

 

"So, the police officer exited the vehicle with his weapon drawn pursuing Mr. Brown. Mr Brown was quite a distance and he stopped and when he stopped he didn't get down on the ground or anything. He turned around and he did some type of movement. I never seen him put his hands up or anything. I can't recall the movement that he did. I'm not sure if he pulled his pants up or-or whateve he did but I seen some type of movement and he started charging towards the officer. The police officer then returned fire, well, not returned fire, open fire on Mr Brown. Um, if I had to guess the shots and the - the distance between him and, a, Mr Brown, it would have been five to ten yards and the shots were fired was four, five to six shots fired."

 

The bolded specifically sticks out to me because Wilson's testimony said Brown did "the hop" like he was about to run. Then pulling up of his pants is in line with Wilson's statement of Brown reaching to his waste band, which one black female reporter on CNN said was basically a lie that all cops say.