Can the Police Really Do that?

[teriwtt]

<p>^^^^^</p>

<p>Our public schools will start week two tomorrow (suburban Chicago - not Chicago - they don’t start until after Labor Day).</p>

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>

Race generally seems to be less of a hot button issue around our state.

</p>

<p>HImom, In my state, California, which is also mixed race, there are some racial tensions among various groups, but historically the worst racial animosities have been between black people and non-black people. That wouldn’t be an issue in Hawaii, where there are very few black people.</p>

[HImom]

<p>It can be hard to tell races around here, especially as there is a lot of intermarriage and many polynesians and Asians have very dark skin. Most of the black people in Hawaii are military, which tends to stick within its community and not mingle as much with the rest of the state.</p>

[sally305]

<p>Breaking…

Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was killed by a police officer, sparking protests around the nation, was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, a preliminary private autopsy performed on Sunday found.</p>

<p>One of the bullets entered the top of Mr. Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said.</p>

<p>Mr. Brown, 18, was also shot four times in the right arm, he said, adding that all the bullets were fired into his front.</p>

<p>The bullets did not appear to have been shot from very close range because no gunpowder was present on his body. However, that determination could change if it turns out that there is gunshot residue on Mr. Brown’s clothing, to which Dr. Baden did not have access.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/us/michael-brown-autopsy-shows-he-was-shot-at-least-6-times.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSumLargeMedia&module=a-lede-package-region&region=lede-package&WT.nav=lede-package”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/us/michael-brown-autopsy-shows-he-was-shot-at-least-6-times.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSumLargeMedia&module=a-lede-package-region&region=lede-package&WT.nav=lede-package&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Shrinkrap]

<p>Cardinal Fang, not in the part of California where I live. There seems to be more animosity between Mexican and white. </p>

<p>Last weekend a sales clerk in a LA hotel giftshop asked me if what she was reading about Jayzee and Beyonce was really true. :)) </p>

<p>My timing has always left something to be desired. </p>

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>So we can conclude that Brown was running, and then turned around. He was shot in the face, and then through the top of the head. The autopsy is consistent with him being wounded in the arm in the struggle near the car, running, turning around, being shot in the face, then crumpling to the ground and being shot through the head as he fell. (And it is consistent with other scenarios that we might dream up.)</p>

[Flossy]

<p>That is the problem. It’s pretty much going to be consistent with both sides. There was only one shot in the car though. He was shot four times in the arm from the front. Then the head from the front. Hmmm.</p>

[sally305]

<p>Well, it will be interesting to see what happens. If the officer is charged, I’d say the prosecution would have the advantage of credible and consistent witnesses; the defense would have the advantage of being able to cast doubt on the character of the dead teen based on his earlier actions that day. I am afraid it is going to be ugly for a long time.</p>

[LasMa]

<p>The St. Louis Co. Prosecutor, Robert McCulloch, doesn’t exactly have a stellar record of impartiality or attempting to uncover all the facts. In a case involving undercover detectives’ shooting of a suspect and his passenger:</p>

<p>

McCulloch, in telling the public what the grand jury had found, repeatedly insisted that “every witness” had testified that the two detectives fired to defend themselves after the suspect tried to run them over with his car.</p>

<p>The Post-Dispatch reviewed the previously secret grand jury tapes and found that McCulloch’s public statements were untrue.

</p>

<p>And:</p>

<p>

McCulloch never brought independent evidence before the grand jury to sort out who was right.</p>

<p>Nor did he request the testimony of a nationally noted collision expert who investigated the case for the Justice Department.

</p>

<p>In another case, involving a whistleblower:</p>

<p>

Without telling the grand jury what he was doing, McCulloch gave the subpoena to the St. Louis County police, who used it to obtain a video recording from Kinko’s showing who sent the fax. After he was identified, [the whistleblower] Signorino was forced to quit his county job.</p>

<p>McCulloch at first claimed that he issued the grand jury subpoena because the fax contained a “threat.”</p>

<p>He later admitted that there never had been any threat and conceded that no crime was involved.

</p>

<p><a href=“20,000 sign petitions seeking special prosecutor in Michael Brown shooting”>http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/sign-petitions-seeking-special-prosecutor-in-michael-brown-shooting/article_d0cc6e7f-8b32-5153-8ab4-86ebdc4659ca.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>If the prosecutor is a liar, he shouldn’t prosecute this case-- or any case. He should instead be fired.</p>

[LasMa]

<p>Oh, I didn’t see your breaking post, sally. Shot in the top of the head. All shots from the front. Wow.</p>

<p>Someone tell me why this information couldn’t have been released days ago.</p>

[Flossy]

<p>This is from the family autopsy performed by Michael Baden. One down. Two to go.</p>

[Cardinal_Fang]

<p>We can conclude that he was facing the officer, and was tens of feet away, when he got the two shots in the head and died. His head was bending down when he got the first head shot-- it went in his eye, exited his jaw and went in his collarbone. He was 6’4". I’m not seeing how that bullet takes that trajectory if he is running toward the officer.</p>

[sally305]

<p>One of the comments in the NYT article suggested that…</p>

<p>

If as Dr. Baden described, a bullet shattered Michael Brown’s eye socket and then proceeded through his jaw into his collar bone, this suggests the shooter was above him shooting on a downward trajectory. Given his height is over 6 ft. Unless Darren Wilson is extremely tall, this is consistent with Mr. Brown being on his knees when shot and likely explains why the last bullet hit the top of his head. I can only describe this scenario as an execution.

</p>

<p>Maybe there is another explanation but it doesn’t look good.</p>

[HImom]

<p>Sounds pretty bad for the officer at this point. </p>

[LasMa]

<p>Officer Wilson doesn’t appear to be extraordinarily tall, from the picture I saw, certainly not 6’5" or taller. Good catch on the part of that commenter about the trajectory of the bullet to the eye. Do we know the trajectory of the bullet to the top of the head?</p>

[LasMa]

<p>Flossy, do you feel that Baden would jeopardize his career and reputation by miscounting the bullet wounds? </p>

[Flossy]

<p>If the claim is charging the officer he would have his head down. That’s if. But, how did he get shot in the arm four times from the front while running away?</p>

[LasMa]

<p>You’re saying he was running full speed looking straight down at the ground as someone repeatedly shot at him? Lol</p>

[Flossy]

<p>Where did I say that? I don’t know what happened and I have never been married to any scenario. The cop hasn’t even given us one, yet. I do ask questions, though.</p>