The Ferguson Shooting: The Inconvenient (And Tragic) Truths

Rich Lowry offers a column in the New York Post on the facts concerning the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

The bitter irony of the Michael Brown case is that if he had actually put his hands up and said don’t shoot, he would almost certainly be alive today.

His family would have been spared an unspeakable loss, and Ferguson, Mo., wouldn’t have experienced multiple bouts of rioting, including the torching of at least a dozen businesses the night it was announced that Officer Darren Wilson wouldn’t be charged with a crime.

Instead, the credible evidence suggests that Michael Brown — after a petty act of robbery at a local business — attacked Wilson when the officer stopped him on the street. Brown punched Wilson when the officer was still in his patrol car and attempted to take his gun from him.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2014/11/26/the-inconvenient-and-tragic-truths/

'You're Too Much Of A Pussy To Shoot Me': Grand Jury Evidence Reveals How An 'Aggresive' Michael Brown Taunted Cop Darren Wilson Before He Was Shot Dead

The British newspaper the Daily Mail offers a piece on the Grand Jury decision not to indict Police Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown. The Daily Mail's  web site also offers some good photos and videos.

Explosive evidence heard by the grand jury in the Michael Brown case has been released following the panel's decision not to indict Fergusion police officer Darren Wilson. 

The evidence, unveiled by St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch, includes the testimony of 28-year-old Wilson after he fatally shot the unarmed black 18-year-old on August 9.

It also features never-before seen photos of the white officer's injuries, clothing and car - from which he fired two rounds at Brown - witness statements and more then 1,000 other legal documents.  

It comes just hours after after McCulloch announced the jury of seven men and five women found 'no probable cause exisits' to indict Wilson in the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

In his testimony, the officer described the moment he shot Brown - minutes after the 'aggressive' teenager taunted him by saying 'You're too much of a f****** p***y to shoot me'.

 

You can read the rest of the piece and view the photos and videos via the below link:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2848366/You-p-y-shoot-Explosive-grand-jury-evidence-reveals-aggressive-Michael-Brown-taunted-cop-Darren-Wilson-shot-dead.html 

The Ferguson Effect: A Cop's-Eye View

A police officer calling himself  "Deputy Matt" offers an interesting piece in the New York Post.

I’m a cop.

A few weeks ago, two of my beat partners and I were called to an apartment in a fairly nice complex to help a mother and father with their 16-year-old son.

The son had no criminal history, and by all accounts was a decent kid. But he was having some problems at home — breaking things and making threats with a knife — and the parents needed our help.

When we finally located the son, who is of mixed ethnicity (Dad is white, Mom is Hispanic), he instantly began cussing and yelling at us. He took a fighting stance and said he was not going to do anything we told him.

Luckily, we were able to calm him and get him into handcuffs without any blows being thrown.

We asked why he was so hostile toward us. His response? Ferguson.  

... Since the shooting of Mike Brown, and the month-plus-long circus that followed, the number of law enforcement officers being shot in the line of duty has skyrocketed, but the average citizen has no idea this is happening.

The national media jumps all over a story where an 18-year-old criminal punk, who shot at a cop, is shot and killed. That criminal is made out to be some sort of victim by many outlets. That story is front-page news all over the country.

Did you know that in just three days last week, six cops were shot in the line of duty, one of whom was killed?

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2014/10/14/the-ferguson-effect-a-cops-eye-view/

Thriller Writer And Gun Expert Stephen Hunter Looks At Ferguson Shooting

Stephen Hunter, author of the thriller series that features former Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger,  offers his take on the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri at powerlineblog.com.

So much has been written about the incident at Ferguson, Missouri, that it’s remarkable none of it is of any use. So let’s try something new.

My idea is to look at the shooting as a shooting, not as an avatar of social malaise, a tragedy or an inevitability. Instead, let’s determine what can be learned from the few facts known and considered incontrovertible. I am no expert but I do know a little about this stuff.  

The four shots that hit Michael Brown in the right arm, according to autopsy drawing provided by Dr. Michael Baden at the insistence of Brown’s own parents, penetrated the outside, leading edge of that limb, just inside the bone. Thus it seems unlikely that those shots, assuming they came directly from in front, could have penetrated the arm at those locations while maintaining a front-to-rear angle.

Try this simple test. Raise your arms. In that position, examine which surface of your arm is vulnerable to frontally incoming gunshots. Clearly, it is the inside, unless you torque your arms inward in order to make the outsides vulnerable to incoming shots, an inconceivable notion.

As I see it, Brown’s arms were not up when he was shot, at least four of the six times.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/08/stephen-hunter-thoughts-on-ferguson.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+powerlineblog%2Flivefeed+(Power+Line)