What has also been bothersome has been a complete lack of empathy for an unarmed teenager shot six times and left lying in the street like a dog.
Okay, fair point. But when the investigation becomes a political battle, as this was, then human interest becomes secondary. I do recall media coverage of the funeral, interviews with the mother, etc. Further, Brown was "left in the street" because the police were investigating. The same happens with fatal car crashes. It is not a decision to leave Brown in the street because of anything other than the fact an investigation has to occur.
It also bothers me to see an increasingly omnipresent, militarized police force, along with an erosion of citizen's rights.
Cannot disagree here. Unfortunately, as our society has deteriorated, the need for well-armed police has increased. Look, I would love it if we needed no more than one cop per 10,000 residents, walking the beat with a night stick and a flashlight.
Hoping for something is not reality.
While it seems many of you see the backlash as a simple black/white thing, the case of a thug getting what he deserved, and you mock the anger and rioting in the streets, I look at it as a slice of a bigger picture that is quite troubling and worrisome. Not just for black Americans, but for all Americans. Who the **** wants to live in a fascist, police-state?
Nobody, I hope. But the simple, irrefutable fact is this, Tibs: Americans are vastly more likely - and I mean by a factor of 5000 to 1 - to be assaulted, shot, knifed, harmed, or killed by fellow citizens, rather than police. Further, if a police officer exceeds his or her rightful use of force, citizens have a remedy. We can sue the police force.
When private citizens harm me, I have no remedy apart from taking care of myself. So I submit that your concerns about a police state are overstated, and your concerns about criminal behavior by citizens understated.
Just on an anecdotal basis, have you ever had your car stolen? Suffered a burglary? Been attacked or harmed by a private citizen?
How about by a police officer?
Among those was allowing local prosecutor Robert McCulloch, who has strong family connections to police, to supervise the presentation of evidence,
This kind of comment is ... well, ridiculous.
All prosecutors have "strong connections to the police." Who do you think the prosecutors work with on a daily basis when prosecuting criminal activity?
Do you suggest that a new prosecutor's office be funded to investigate the rare incidence of alleged excessive force by police? Where the prosecutors prosecute only those actions and thereby have very little prosecutorial experience? That is not a reasonable approach.
• “Because it was a grand jury inquiry and not a trial, Wilson took the stand in secrecy and without benefit of a cross-examination. Prosecutors not only failed to probe his incredible testimony but frequently appeared to be bolstering his claim of self-defense. Transcripts reveal that witnesses whose accounts contradicted Wilson’s were rigorously questioned by prosecutors.
The grand jury process is privileged and has been for decades. Further, comments about the nature of cross-examination, without citing particular examples, is unsupported opinion. "Frequently appeared to be bolstering his claim of self-defense"? How about one example? "Rigorously cross-examined"? Such as ... ? Yeah, thanks for the empty assertion. I can tell you that when I prepare written material for presentation to the court, I cite specific evidence as to any fact I allege, and legal authority for any assertion of law. That is how I was taught to write, in high school, college and law school.
• Dorian Johnson, the key witness who was standing next to Brown during the encounter, provided strong testimony that called into question Wilson’s claim that he was defending his life against a deranged aggressor. Johnson testified that Wilson, enraged that the young men did not obey his order to get on the sidewalk, threw his patrol car into reverse. While Wilson claimed Brown prevented him from opening his door, Johnson testified that the officer smacked them with the door after nearly hitting the pair. Johnson described the ensuing struggle as Wilson attempting to pull Brown through the car window by his neck and shirt, and Brown pulling away. Johnson never saw Brown reach for Wilson’s gun or punch the officer. Johnson testified that he watched a wounded Brown partially raise his hands and say, ‘I don’t have a gun’ before being fatally shot.
The grand jury considered that testimony, along with Johnson's changes to his version of events, testimony from numerous other witnesses, and the forensic evidence.
The prosecutor called the witness. Was he supposed to fail to call other witnesses, or introduce forensic evidence disproving what Johnson was saying? Yeah, I'd like to see what the PD did if one of his clients was treated in that fashion before a grand jury.
Further, Johnson's statement that Wilson pulled a 289 lb. suspect into the police car by his shirt collar is unbelievable. The cop would be facing forward, away from the driver's side window, and have to turn to his left to try and "grab" Brown's collar. Brown is outside the car, on his feet, and above the cop. The chances that the cop could pull Brown into the car - Johnson's claim - are little to none, and little just left town.
• Wilson’s description of Brown as a ‘demon’ with superhuman strength and unremitting rage, and his description of the neighborhood as ‘hostile,’ illustrate implicit racial bias that taints use-of-force decisions. These biases surely contribute to the fact that African Americans are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than whites in the U.S., but the statement’s racial implications remained unexamined.
These comments are racist non-sequiturs.
Specifically, is the guy suggesting that having strength is a "black thing"? Seriously, the most racist comment is not by Wilson but by the PD who wrote that statement. Further, his pontification about "racial implications" is nothing more than editorializing.
Further, statistics about the likelihood of African-American getting shot by police is not evidence. It isn't. The comments about statistics and "racial implications" are 100% inadmissible editorial comments. Personally, I shudder at the thought of a society where government prosecution depends on political views and editorial commentary.
• Prosecutors never asked Wilson why he did not attempt to drive away while Brown was allegedly reaching through his vehicle window or to reconcile the contradiction between his claim that Brown punched the left side of his face and the documented injuries which appear on his right side.Wilson, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and 210 pounds, is never asked to explain why he ‘felt like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan’ during his struggle with Brown, who is Wilson’s height and 290 pounds.”
The comment about driving away is simply stupid. The police officer testified that Brown had assaulted him and tried to grab his gun - felonies. The police don't run away from criminals; they arrest them. Any police officer who flees a felon would be fired - and deservedly so. This comment simply underscores how profoundly weak and illogical the PD's arguments are.
I sure as **** would not want him as my lawyer.
Also, as to Wilson's injuries, Wilson did not claim he was not struck on the right side of his face. The photos show injury to the left side of his face. So how did Wilson get these injuries of Johnson's version is accurate, and Brown did not strike the cop???
Finally, comments about being overpowered - the cop was in a car. Brown, who was 6'5", 289 lbs, was outside the car. That very well played a role in Wilson's inability to defend himself.
The grand jury considered the evidence and found no probably cause that Wilson committed a crime. Thankfully, such decisions are made by members of the public, based on evidence, and are not political decisions by somebody worried about re-election.
Plus, being an "average white guy," the chances of any of that happening is unlikely.
