What disappoints me the most is people didn't wait.

 

From the beginning, people took to social media to dictate the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown. Officer Wilson was vilified by people because of the narrative the media and the internet developed surrounding the shooting of this gentle giant who was surrendering peacefully. Then, the facts started slipping out slowly but surely as the investigation progressed and the detectives, prosecutor and the DA saw that the information wouldn't compromise the possible jury pool in case of indictment. STILL, people clung to their rallying cry of HANDS UP! DON'T SHOOT! The robbery footage provided motive for Wilson's version of events, but it was irrelevant. Dorian Johnson, Brown's friend, admitted to committing strong arm robbery, recanting previous testimony and calling into question the credibility of ANYTHING he said, yet he witnessed it all. People wanted an indictment, because they EXPECTED IT from the made up "evidence" spawned from rampant rumor and speculation. Anyone who paid attention knew what was going to happen. 

 

With the release of the no true bill readings, comes the release of the Grand Jury evidence with it. There's 77 released documents. Over thousands of pages of evidence, including witness testimony, toxicology reports, ME reports, radio transcripts. 987 MB (uncompressed) worth of information provided to the Grand Jury that helped them reach their decision. The worst part of it all? People won't look at it. They will continue to remain ignorant of what really happened, because they "already knew" what happened, and no amount of actual evidence will change that.

I've seen some really racist comments regarding this, anyways it still baffles me as to why people are burning down stores and businesses. Doing will solve nothing, also I really don't see a need for this protesters, while in the constitution it says you do have a right to peacefully assemble, at the very most Darren Wilson should be fired and work at a more suitable job.

Also question, do you have to have a license in order to own a bullhorn? As I have seen some civilians with them.

What disappoints me the most is people didn't wait.

 

From the beginning, people took to social media to dictate the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown. Officer Wilson was vilified by people because of the narrative the media and the internet developed surrounding the shooting of this gentle giant who was surrendering peacefully. Then, the facts started slipping out slowly but surely as the investigation progressed and the detectives, prosecutor and the DA saw that the information wouldn't compromise the possible jury pool in case of indictment. STILL, people clung to their rallying cry of HANDS UP! DON'T SHOOT! The robbery footage provided motive for Wilson's version of events, but it was irrelevant. Dorian Johnson, Brown's friend, admitted to committing strong arm robbery, recanting previous testimony and calling into question the credibility of ANYTHING he said, yet he witnessed it all. People wanted an indictment, because they EXPECTED IT from the made up "evidence" spawned from rampant rumor and speculation. Anyone who paid attention knew what was going to happen. 

 

With the release of the no true bill readings, comes the release of the Grand Jury evidence with it. There's 77 released documents. Over thousands of pages of evidence, including witness testimony, toxicology reports, ME reports, radio transcripts. 987 MB (uncompressed) worth of information provided to the Grand Jury that helped them reach their decision. The worst part of it all? People won't look at it. They will continue to remain ignorant of what really happened, because they "already knew" what happened, and no amount of actual evidence will change that.

 

That is a danger with social media. Rather than wait for a complete, or at least fuller picture to develop, people will start to propagate mis-information and half facts.

 

Cheers.

 

Ferguson is a prime example of what happens when someone is tried in the court of public opinion. 

I have no words to express my facepalmness and disappointment.

 

Why must race be brought into these kind of things? You aren't going to avenge him by killing a bunch of police officers, firefighters and other innocent civilians, but I think some are using this as an excuse to riot, set fires and loot.

False This kid was unarmed plain and simple. That should day it all. Police are required to use non lethal force in this instance. Taser would have been the best choice.

 

False. The law does not require someone to be armed as a justification of lawful self defense, plain and simple. And that law does not apply only to police officers, any citizen in the state of Missouri and everywhere else that I've lived, has the right to use deadly force if they believe their aggressor poses an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Police officers are NOT required to use non lethal force in this instance, since the law clearly allows anyone the right to use deadly force, and Officer Wilson did not have a taser so it was not a choice at all.

 

Furthermore, police officers in the state of Missouri are allowed to use deadly force to affect an arrest on someone who has or is believed to have committed a felony. Michael Brown committed multiple felonies prior to being shot.

 

Relevant statues from the state of Missouri:

 

563.031.

1. A person may, subject to the provisions of subsection 2 of this section, use physical force upon another person when and to the extent he or she reasonably believes such force to be necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person from what he or she reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful force by such other person...

 

2. A person may not use deadly force upon another person under the circumstances specified in subsection 1 of this section unless:

   (1) He or she reasonably believes that such deadly force is necessary to protect himself, or herself or her unborn child, or another against death, serious physical injury, or any forcible felony...

 

563.046.

1. A law enforcement officer need not retreat or desist from efforts to effect the arrest, or from efforts to prevent the escape from custody, of a person he or she reasonably believes to have committed an offense because of resistance or threatened resistance of the arrestee. In addition to the use of physical force authorized under other sections of this chapter, a law enforcement officer is, subject to the provisions of subsections 2 and 3, justified in the use of such physical force as he or she reasonably believes is immediately necessary to effect the arrest or to prevent the escape from custody.

2. The use of any physical force in making an arrest is not justified under this section unless the arrest is lawful or the law enforcement officer reasonably believes the arrest is lawful.

3. A law enforcement officer in effecting an arrest or in preventing an escape from custody is justified in using deadly force only:

(1) When deadly force is authorized under other sections of this chapter; or

(2) When he or she reasonably believes that such use of deadly force is immediately necessary to effect the arrest and also reasonably believes that the person to be arrested:

(a) Has committed or attempted to commit a felony

 

Because the suspect isn't going for the OC Spray.. He is more focused on the gun, which is a perfect opportunity to grab your OC Spray. Plus with OC Spray you don't need to "prepare", with the firearm you have to hold it a certain way, then you have to aim in a way it's not going to miss your suspect and a bullet randomly flies off in a direction where it could kill someone. With OC Spray, you point it, flip the top and spray. THEN the suspect would be incapacitated because he won't be able to see.. which then he won't be going for your gun. 

 

Like i said, how do we know that he was going for his gun? the officer in question said it.. which could be a lie to save his ass.

 

Have you ever had basic firearms training? Have you ever had OC spray training? How about defensive tactics? I have, and I can tell you that OC spray was not the best option and may have made the situation worse. This assumes that Officer Wilson even had OC spray with him, which he might not have since he also didn't have a taser. I don't know any police officers that carry OC spray and I personally don't plan on carrying it either once I graduate the academy. OC spray makes things worse more often than it helps.

 

OC spray also does not always incapacitate someone. I've personally fought through it, since I was required and trained to do so during academy training. When your life is on the line, you don't take any chances.

 

When you are a police officer and you get into a physical fight with someone, priority 1 is to protect your firearm. You are trained to do that by putting both hands on the gun and keeping it in the holster until you have the opportunity to draw it safely.

 

You cannot get OC spray while you have both hand protecting your weapon.

 

The OC spray I've been trained on needs to be shaken before it can be used, so it's not as easy to use as people think.

 

The original assault occurred inside the officer's patrol car. It is unreasonable to expect that the officer could have maintained control over his weapon with one hand, against his training and instinct, while diverting attention to a smaller pouch on his duty belt, retrieving the spray, shake the canister, and attempt to spray it all while hoping the nozzle was pointed the right way, all while being physically assaulted. Even if he was able to do all of that, the likely hood is that in such close quarters, the officer would have also just sprayed himself. He would have had to move through the cloud of spray to exit the vehicle at least, so now you have a police officer who is hurt, scared, and sprayed with his own OC spray.

That's the very reason most police officers I know choose not to carry it at all. It doesn't help.

Edited November 25, 201411 yr by johnclark1102

Just listened to some scanner chat (Live), seems that the situation has calmed down. (J/K)

A few pursuits, two burglaries, looting, Grand Theft, assault, a civi' down, bricks thrown, apartment complex with fires and multiple drug deals, Officer In Need of Assistance, an officer's radio going static, a hardware store being searched, static noise, shit's going down. Just damn. 

What are you implying? 

I have lived in Weston WV Virginia for 3 yrs, Lewis county to be exact. A place where there is only one female officer in the country. And no black police officers at all. So I know your racist. Im so happy to be from NYC where people have grown since the civil war.

I have lived in Weston WV Virginia for 3 yrs, Lewis county to be exact. A place where there is only one female officer in the country. And no black police officers at all. So I know your racist. Im so happy to be from NYC where people have grown since the civil war.

You can't imply that he is racist because you've never met him and he never gave any indication that he is a racist.

I am currently reading the transcripts from the grand jury case, which have been released here: http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2014/11/us/ferguson-grand-jury-docs/index.html

 

According to this, there was no reason to indite Officer Wilson. There is sufficient evidence to prove that he acted in self defense because of Brown's actions toward Wilson, and how Wilson was not able to aptly defend himself.

 

As stated in Officer Darren Wilson's testimony, he was unable to reach for his OC Spray because the OC spray was located on the left side of Officer Wilson's duty belt. Officer Wilson's left arm was in use because he was trying to hold Michael Brown's arm in the air to stop him form striking him. Wilson also stated that his collapsible baton and flashlight were out of question because the officer's flashlight was out of reach, and the officer's baton needed to be extended, and there was insufficient room inside the patrol vehicle to do so. Officer Wilson's only line of defense was his service weapon. When Officer Wilson drew his weapon, he verbally warned Brown that he would open fire if he did not back away. Brown grabbed Wilson's gun and pushed it back into Wilson's hip, attempting to pull the trigger. Wilson got his weapon free and did the only thing he could do to stop Brown from beating him; Wilson fired is weapon twice. Once striking Brown through the car door, and the second one missing. 

 

After Brown was initially hit, he turned to run. Wilson got out of the car and gave foot chase, yelling for Brown to stop and get on the ground. Brown did not comply. Brown turned, placed his left hand in a fist at his side, and placed his right hand in the waistband of his pants and began charging at Officer Wilson. Wilson gave more orders for Brown to stop and get on the ground. Brown still did not comply. Wilson did what he thought was necessary to stop the threat; Wilson followed his training and fired until the threat was down.

 

You can't imply that he is racist because you've never met him and he never gave any indication that he is a racist.

If it makes you feel better I didn't single him out. I said many people. No I cant say he is racist. But I can say that the majority of people there are.

Lol.

 

That is all.

Also question, do you have to have a license in order to own a bullhorn? As I have seen some civilians with them.

No. Why the hell would you have to be licensed to own a bullhorn?

No. Why the hell would you have to be licensed to own a bullhorn?

Some TV show I was watching the woman said when protesting you have to have a permit for bullhorn or megaphones. I know silly.

I know this is a bit late, but I just saw this on imgur and it helped me understand the situation better, so I thought I would share it here:

 

Let's talk about Ferguson.

 

 

So lets talk rationally about this a little bit. We have a situation in which much of our country believes Officer Darren Wilson purposefully murdered Michael Brown.

 

This has been such a huge thing in the news recently that it's hard not to read or watch something about it on a daily basis now. You have a lot of people fueled up on rage and glued to their television awaiting an outcome only to have the outcome finally come about last night.

 

The result? Well facts were analyzed, dna evidence was provided, a very thorough autopsy was conducted and Officer Darren Wilson was shown to be in the right in regards to this matter.

 

A lot of people in todays society still feel that he murdered Michael brown though. So lets analyze some facts together.

 

Here is Michael Brown. Michael Brown is a 6-5 290 pound 18 year old male. On the day in question when he lost his life he had just robbed a small store. He was probably a little agitated and was a bit worried about what would happen to him if he was caught. It also was shown he had some Marijuana in his system at the time so his decision making also could have been slightly skewed. Officer Darren Wilson pulled up next to Michael Brown when he was walking in the middle of the street with his friend and told him to get out of the street (for his safety).

 

Here is Officer Wilson. Officer Wilson is a 6-4 200 pound 28 year old male. Officer Darren Wilson was on a typical day of his work. Nothing was out of the normal. He noticed an individual walking down the middle of the street and told him to go to the sidewalk. Suddenly Michael Brown approached him, reached into the car and struck Darren Wilson in the face. He then reached for Darren Wilsons firearm and a struggle ensued. At this point the fire arm was discharged once and Michael Brown was struck in the hand. Michael Brown then turned to flee while Darren Wilson got out of his car.

 

The following picture I put in a spoiler due to it's size:

At this point a short foot pursuit occurred as Darren Wilson brought his firearm to bare and ordered Michael Brown to stop. It appears Brown stopped and put his hands in the air and turned to face Darren Wilson. As Darren Wilson continued to give orders to Brown, Brown dropped his hands and charged officer Wilson. Wilson continued to give orders for Brown to stop. Brown extended his hands out towards Wilson as Wilson began to discharge his firearm.

 

Brown was shot 5 times during this the last shot being fatal which struck Brown in the head. A lot of people have wanted to criticize the amount of times officer Wilson discharged his firearm but honestly Brown was still moving forewards towards Wilson before the last round was fired.

 

This is also where a lot of criticism occurs specifically of Wilson, the use of lethal force against an unarmed individual. However what other options did Officer Wilson have? He could have used his pepper spray I suppose. However that is something that is not very effective in open air AND considering Brown was charging him Wilson would have been subjected to the spray as well.

 

Wilson did not have a Taser, this means he was left with only his ability to fight Brown off with his hands or perhaps his baton. Brown outweighed Wilson by almost a hundred pounds however. This probably would not have gone well for the officer especially since in the earlier altercation Brown had already shown a propensity for violence AND had been reaching and trying to grab Officer Wilsons Firearm.

 

The reality is there was a major decision. He could shoot and kill Michael Brown, or he could risk Michael Brown beating him and taking his firearm, and then who knows what.

 

Michael Brown was killed during this and then left out for several hours while the forensic evidence collectors came to the scene. The community did not like how long it took for the crew to do their work and they did not like that a white officer had killed a black man.

 

The result... well.....

 

Burning of many buildings and vehicles.....

 

Looting of shops...... 

 

Mass destruction of property......

 

 

So what now? For those that know within the states, the Grand Jury did not Indict Darren Wilson. The evidence showed he was in the right. However the road is not over for Wilson. He can still be sued by the family for wrongful death, he also can be brought up on charges by the state for this same thing. The sad part is... he was just doing his job. He did not want this, it was not racially motivated, and he is probably going to suffer for the rest of his life over this.

 

He will not work in law enforcement again due to bad press. He may lose everything he has over the multiple law suites and overall he really has an incredibly rough road ahead of him.

 

The community as a whole in Ferguson is utterly fractured in every way. The black community is screaming for justice when in reality justice has been served but they refuse to accept it.

 

The Police Agency of Ferguson is utterly under a microscope and has had its entire relationship with the community destroyed. It will probably take years and years to recover from something like this and there will probably be a huge amount of mistrust even then.

 

The family of Michael Brown who asked for the community not to disrespect their sons memory by rioting is having the memory of their son further soiled and tarnished by his legacy being nothing more then mass looting and arson.

 

And above it all you have the media just stoking the fires the whole time, adding more gasoline to it day in and day out. The question is when is it going to stop?

 

All I can honestly say myself is that Justice and Fact did indeed win out, and its sad that as a nation we cant accept that and many of us are letting emotion rule everything while the media makes money off the sensationalist spectacle this has become.

 

For those wanting sources. Look here, these are the actual released documents from the case and what was presented to the Grand Jury. Stop listening to the news and start looking at the sources. Don't be lemmings

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/25/us/evidence-released-in-michael-brown-case.html

 

TLDR - Wilson was in the right, Brown tragically lost his life but brought it upon himself. The media is the only winner, it needs to stop.

Some TV show I was watching the woman said when protesting you have to have a permit for bullhorn or megaphones. I know silly.

 

I've never head of a permit to own a megaphone.

 

Most places do require that you have a permit to hold a protest, and the conduct of the protest is subject to certain criteria such as not interfering with the public roadways, interfering or trespassing on private property, and not disturbing or interfering with any person who is not participating in the protest, etc. Maybe that's what this person meant and they were simply confused.

 

The requirement for an assembly permit has been ruled by the supreme court as reasonable regulation of the first amendment to ensure that the part of the amendment about "petitioning the government for a redress of grievances" is met, and to ensure that a group of people exercising their right to peaceably assemble do not infringe on the rights of people not part of the assembly.

 

The only issues I could see with a megaphone would be noise violations related to decibel limitations, or using the siren or buzzer mode that some megaphones have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMSO0CXnYtE&list=UUy9VHF_ihqzBsx9tr0_XZIQ

Yeah I think it's definitely a conspiracy. They somehow photoshopped the video of Brown ripping off the small Asian store clerk. Then, someone in the mob paid off the numerous witnesses who collaborated Wilson's testimony. And lastly, they obviously got to the doctors who did the autopsy report and the blood spatter analysts. Of course we can't trust evidence in these sort of cases, especially if the evidence points towards it not being a hate crime. Racism is ALWAYS at the core of these sort of altercations, not simply police officers doing their jobs. Junkies in the hood who have never met their fathers are never the real criminals. No, it's blatantly apparent that it's the white man to blame, always and forever.

By the way all of this is pure sarcasm.

I have lived in Weston WV Virginia for 3 yrs, Lewis county to be exact. A place where there is only one female officer in the country. And no black police officers at all. So I know your racist. Im so happy to be from NYC where people have grown since the civil war.

The correct spelling is you're... Also you say you are glad to live in a place where people have grown? You might want to consider moving, because it seems pretty childish to assume anyone who lives south of the Mason Dixon line is a racist. You can't know that I'm a racist, because you don't know me. I don't consider myself to be racist, I have African American friends where I go to school. There are racist people all over the world, and just because you lived in a area that did not have an African American police officer doesn't mean everyone is racist. That just means an African American didn't apply for a job, or he/she didn't do very well during the hiring process.

Rockstar told us this would happen.