<p>Tonyk? Really? If somebody doesn’t have a clean record they can’t be a credible witness? </p>
<p>Hopefully, we will find out where his hands were when the autopsy is released. Until then that is just not a fact.</p>
<p>cobrat, that fits with their almost complete silence this week. They’ve been trying to get their story straight.</p>
<p>Flossy, when the autopsy comes and it is completely consistent with what EVERY eyewitness has said, are you going to say that the autopsy is somehow wrong? Or are you going to change tacks and say that the cop was somehow right to gun down an unarmed teenager at close range?</p>
<p>No, I’m not. I’m fine with waiting for facts. It’s the rush to judgment that makes me uncomfortable. However, there are real people on the streets in that town who refuse to believe the convenience store robbery happened despite video evidence. That is a big problem. </p>
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<p>Considering the past documented history of the culture within Ferguson PD…including records of them lying in public court to cover up police brutality and taking a lax attitude in documenting police brutality in one case, I can’t say I necessarily blame them. </p>
<p>Flossy, you actually believe that if Michael Brown robbed that store, then the officer was justified in shooting him until he was dead?</p>
<p>BTW Did you see my posts overnight about the camera crews?</p>
<p>It’s interesting this idea of a black young man being dangerous and thug-like and guilty just for being himself. I was reminded of this last night while watching my beloved Seahawks. If anyone in the league is chirpier than Richard Sherman it’s Phillip Rivers. Rivers has a long, long history of getting in people’s faces in a pretty ugly way . . . even with officials. He is relentless, still turning back and yelling stuff from the sidelines. He will stand over a guy and chirp at him. So who is the “thug” and who is the “choirboy”? White, Catholic river with his 7 kids is the choirboy of course and he is just being competitive and passionate about the game when he stands over a guy and yells into his face (likely about his mother). However, the press and comments about Sherman have been relentlessly negative - immediately going to the place of racial stereotypes. When Sherman is chirpy it’s no longer fun and passionate but low-class and thug-like. </p>
<p>I read the original autopsy found that he died from gunshots.
Well, they certainly earned their pay.
So the family had to arrange for an independent autopsy.
The results of drug tests shouldn’t matter as he wasn’t a threat to the officer who killed him, according to witnesses.
Perhaps Darren Wilson should have had a drug test.
The police are mucking this up big time.</p>
<p>LasMa -Of course, I don’t think the kid should have been killed for committing a robbery. Geez. And, yes I saw your overnight Al Jazeera conspiracy posts. I was not impressed. Sorry. </p>
<p>Flossy, why were you not impressed? Specifically which facts do you dispute? ETA – There are four cases of the police preventing journalists from doing their constitutionally protected jobs, two of them on film. That is a systematic policy. Or are you disputing the Court’s ruling that the journalists were allowed to do what they were doing?</p>
<p>What are you suggesting? The place is crawling with press. There are several news conferences every day and the town is a sea of satellite trucks. Also, I happen to know a thing or two about riot coverage from being on the ground in LA in the 90’s with a press pass and a microphone. Getting ordered to move happens. Al Jazeera’s lame attempt to make the story about them is not cool. imho. However, I was amused to read that Al Gore is suing them this morning. I think he’s alledging fraud. What a mess.</p>
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<p>Then I’m confused as to why you keep bringing it up as if it’s relevant, as in #287, 355, 343, 364</p>
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<p>LOL. Nice attempt at diversion. But let’s take the video in the McDonalds where the cop tells the reporter to turn his camera off. That, as the First Circuit Court said, is a violation of the reporter’s first amendment rights. So what are you saying? That the cop didn’t really said what he clearly said? That the Court got it wrong? </p>
<p>Flossy, the problem with your contributions to these sorts of threads is that you refuse to engage in a real discussion with people whose opinions don’t fit your pre-formed world view. Calling a documented incident of Al Jazeera reporters being targeted by police a “conspiracy” demonstrates clearly that you are not interested in either opening your mind or having an adult conversation. And by bringing in gratuitous references to Al Gore, this becomes even more obvious.</p>
<p>ETA: if you actually had been a member of the press, you’d likely err on the side of outrage over media censorship no matter what the news outlet was. Or at least I would like to believe that.</p>
<p>My only point on this thread is that we should wait for some evidence to convict the cops or the kid. I don’t quite see how that is close minded. The press does not have complete freedom to roam around a riot. They never did. Police were emptying out the Mcdonald’s. That happens. </p>
<p>But you already called MB a “dangerous fleeing felon” without a) a court of law having determined him to be such or b) absolute proof that the officer knew MB was a risk to the community. Your conviction is already complete.</p>
<p>False. What I ASKED was if he was a dangerous fleeing felon would the shooting be justified. The answer seemed to be that it would depend on details which we do not currently have. So, I will wait. Good grief, even the police haven’t claimed the shooting was good at this point.</p>
<p>You said this:</p>
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<p>Sounds to me like he’s been convicted. And we DO have the detail that refutes your scenario–Michael Brown was not a dangerous fleeing felon. He might have been a fleeing suspect, and he might have seemed dangerous, but that is as far as it goes. The officer who shot him didn’t even have a 100% positive ID that MB was the same person from the robbery (although he did have a description and maybe saw the stolen goods).</p>
<p>And just for the record: I do think Michael Brown should have been arrested for the cigarillo stealing. I found his aggression toward the shopkeeper unsettling. But that doesn’t mean he deserved to die the way he did.</p>
<p>^ ^ ^ ^</p>
<p>Yeah, really. What if this wasn’t the first convenience store robbery he participated in?</p>
<p>If it comes down to his word against the police officer’s you can draw your own conclusion.(not that it will in this case).</p>
<p>Flossy, by every eyewitness account that I’ve seen, Brown was neither fleeing nor threatening the officer when he received the last 4 or 5 bullets. So even if he was a “dangerous felon,” he was in the act of surrendering when he was killed. Which makes the killing 100% unjustified. </p>