<p>Oh, please. He had his (empty) hands up–at least three witnesses corroborated that. And he was walking away from the cop.</p>
<p>I stand corrected, the officer may not have known he did not have a gun,</p>
<p>Well, one of those witnesses was his cohort in the robbery. I’m not buying the hands up business at all, yet.</p>
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<p>The officer knew that Brown never went for a gun, or displayed a gun. We know that the officer knew that because we know there was no gun to go for or to display. </p>
<p>Once Brown’s hands were up, the officer certainly knew he wasn’t a threat. And he knew it FOR SURE as Brown was lying on the ground being shot to death.</p>
<p>Here’s a video of the scene shortly after the killing. Here’s what the police do not appear to be doing: finding witnesses to segregate and interview before they can hear what others are saying; comforting the parents; photographing the crime scene; examining the crime scene in any way; doing anything but strutting around aimlessly.</p>
<p>CF, that is disturbing in so many ways. And not showing the victim any dignity by covering up his body–awful.</p>
<p>If Brown had a gun the call on the radio would have been for armed robbery. He didn’t and it wasn’t.</p>
<p>Come on, saintfan. Don’t confuse us with facts.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to take a poll, see how many of the ‘executing a jaywalker’ faction is female. Just saying, because after a physical altercation, men generally aren’t up for doing an after-trial, after-a-good-night’s-sleep summation of facts.</p>
<p>The facts, as inconvenient as they’ll be to either side, will eventually come out and either be embraced or dismissed by the respective same. I do wonder though: if the deceased hadn’t been the kind of guy that would rob a convenience store, would he have been the kind of guy to scuffle with a cop who told him to stop walking down the middle of the street? In other words, exactly how many 18 year olds, regardless of race, are in danger of being shot by a stupid policeman? In Ferguson, or anywhere else?</p>
<p>Fang, I’m not going to watch, and I’ll take your description as accurate. According to one of the eyewitnesses, here’s something else the police didn’t do: approach Brown to check for a pulse, render first aid, etc. Can you confirm that?</p>
<p>The eyewitness said that the first person who attended to Brown was a paramedic, 30 or 40 minutes after the shooting.</p>
<p>So if one doesn’t believe the officer might have reacted out of fear, perhaps to some sort of altercation with Brown, is the answer that he just randomly shot a black man, for no particular reason other than racism? Why that man, on that day? </p>
<p>I thought the circus surrounding Trayvon Martin’s murder was bad but this is just a whole new level of insanity. </p>
<p>They have the same family attorney so some similarities would be expected. </p>
<p>electronblue, you say “other than racism” as if racism doesn’t involve a combinations of emotions. Emotions such as fear, superiority, intimidations…but I’ll stop there. Don’t want to get side tracked. :)</p>
<p>Why does anybody snap? Maybe Michael Brown was just one boisterous teenager too many for the officer.</p>
<p>Unarmed black man being killed and /or beaten by cops. This story is beyond old. How many unarmed white men are killed by black cops each year? Shoplifting and threatening a store owner should not be a death sentence. Even if you discount his friends testimony, who by the way, DID NOT SHOPLIFT, but put the items back, there is another witness who said she saw te whole thing, and she was very credible. You don’t shoot a fleeing suspect in the back. This is exactly what started the riots in cincinnati. </p>
<p>electron, police are supposed to be trained not to just react out of fear. They are supposed to defuse situations, not escalate them. From jaywalking to shooting death within a minute is a pretty drastic escalation.</p>
<p>Suppose the officer was afraid for his life in those first few seconds. Was he still afraid for his life as he was chasing and shooting at Brown? Was he still afraid for his life as Brown raised his empty hands into the air? How about when Brown lay on the street being shot to death? </p>
<p>“How many unarmed white men are killed by black cops each year?”</p>
<p>This is a good question. Are white fleeing felon suspects killed by cops? Any cops? Black or white. Does anyone know?</p>
<p>Them having the same lawyers has nothing to do with the media circus Flossy.</p>
<p>Really? Savvy lawyers work the media beachlover. That is a fact. </p>