It would be ridiculous for either the news media or law enforcement authorities to suppress the existence of the robbery video. It has a definite relevance to the events that are unfolding. It’s a fact that a store was robbed by the victim of this shooting. It’s a fact that an officer shot and killed this man who had earlier committed this robbery. Both incidents have justifiably been released to the public. According to what I’ve seen and read, Officer Wilson was unaware of the earlier robbery when he confronted the two men. However, it’s very possible that this fact was unknown to Brown and his accomplice. It is also possible that, in their minds, they were possibly going to be arrested for the crime that had occurred just minutes earlier. Did this cause them to resist or fight with the officer? I have no idea. Neither does the media and neither do the protesters. It’s all just speculation at this point. But, the fact that the victim had just perpetrated a robbery is relevant information. The facts of the shooting will eventually surface. Until then, we’ll have to wait. Another troubling aspect of this case is the reaction, or lack thereof, by law enforcement authorities toward the destruction and looting of the liquor store where the robbery occurred. According to the owner of the store, he called 911 and the police did not intervene. That’s inexcusable. It sends the message that since the criminal who are attacking the store are angry over a perceived injustice it’s ok. No, it’s not. It’s a disgrace that they were allowed to commit these acts without consequence. While many of the facts are unknown at this point, one fact is crystal clear: a group of thugs is seizing an opportunity to act out their aggressive behavior and demonstrate their true character. Even simpletons should be able to see this for what it is. It’s not an exercise of First Amendment rights or a show of support for the Brown family. It’s criminal behavior and it should be viewed and punished as such. No amount of posturing by the usual race-baiters can change this fact. Tonight there is a curfew in effect. Hopefully all will remain calm. If not, I hope the intervention by law enforcement is swift and severe. After all, it’s their duty. On another note, these events remind me of what happened in South Central LA after the Rodney King verdict. Of course it was on a much larger scale. I remember this gem of a quote by that brilliant congresswoman Maxine Waters: “If you call it a riot, it sounds like it was just a bunch of crazy people who went out and did bad things for no reason. I maintain it was somewhat understandable, if not acceptable. So I call it a rebellion.” Yeah, she really said that. It’ll be interesting to see if Sharpton or any of his race-baiting cohorts will be able to outdo her.
They sure weren't looting any book stores. The looting will stop when everyone has stolen a pair of new Air Jordans.
Now a video has surfaced showing new black panther leader zulu shabaaz inciting a crowd of mental midgets with death threats against Officer Wilson. Let's get this straight. These upstanding members of the community are calling for a man's death before he even faces charges. All of the facts are still unknown. As a matter of fact there is evidence emerging that brown may have even been charging Wilson. This may or may not be a justifiable shooting. We don't know yet. However, the death chants of this clown and his sheepish followers is not justifiable. The bottom line is this: a black thug was killed by a white cop. Regardless of the circumstances, according to the bigoted members of the black community of Ferguson, the officer is in the wrong. And what about the senseless and ignorant chants of "no justice no peace?" What exactly do these morons consider to be justice? Last I checked, justice would involve an investigation, filing of charges (if applicable), an indictment (if evidence warrants), and a trial. These people are doing a spectacular job of putting their prejudice, bigotry, hatred, and, above all, ignorance on public display on a daily basis. It would be laughable if not not so sad. Evidently it's extremely easy to work these people into a frenzy with a few cliched chants. Who let the dogs out?
these dorks don't vote, which is why in a town that is majority black they have a nearly all white city council and just a smattering of black officers. Ferguson has thousands of black residents but just a hundred or so looters/rioters. We should all be concerned about cops killing people. organizing to vote and picketing are good moves, rioting and stealing from liquor stores or engaging in other unfunded shopping sprees is counter productive
We should be concerned about cops killing when it's unwarranted. We don't know that to be the case. Enciting a crowd of morons into a frenzy and suggesting death to the officer involved also calls for concern.
Interesting eye witness account caught on cell camera. Surprisingly, this video has been released already, but the first part was omitted. The Link In positive news, Rev Al said the robbery was not even bad enough to count as shoplifting. Maybe if there was some realistic acknowledgment of all facts and time for the investigation to play out, more people would be sympathetic to the situation.
I guess the innocent narrative about the kid about to start college took a bit of a hit with that thuggish video. Not defending the police shooting because I don't yet know the facts, but so much for the"good kid" out just walking around minding his own business in my mind. In addition, looting stores in "protest" just reinforces the belief of an overall criminal mentality in a segment of America.
One autopsy( there are 2more including one ordered by Holder) done by Dr.Michael Baden formerly ME of NYC shows 6 entry wounds, ALL in front. None in the back as 'eye witnsesses" reported. If that and it appears brown did not have his hands up.. if that is the case will that put a damper on all the don't shoot protestors? There is also audio from a cell phone vid where the phone owner was commenting Brown and the cop struggling in the police vehicle and then later the phone oener commenting on brown rushing back to the cop. There is still so much evidence to come out but no matter what it is sad that an 18 y o died and it is also sad that a police officer would have feared for his life enough to shoot.
"They sure weren't looting any book stores." That there is funny! Every police shooting needs to be investigated completely and the investigation in this shooting has not been completed. Everyone needs to wait until the investigation is complete. Meanwhile, in Chicago......
If you're goal is to keep the peace the release of that video had the opposite effect. I'm sure this kid isn't an angel but to release it in the midst of the protests displays how out of touch this Ferguson police chief is. Save the video for the investigation and potential trial. At a minimum wait until the energy has died down a bit before releasing it.
And if the intent is to get justice for Brown then all those who are looting all the stores and perhaps costing black people jobs and shooting at cops or throwing Molotov cocktails, all those thugs need to stop it. I would not want to be a policeman facing those' peaceful protestors". I wouldn't even want to be one of the mob and get shot by another thug. What is the National Guard actually going to do?
I think there is blame on all sides. The looters get all the attention but some protesters blocked the stores on Saturday night to prevent the looters from getting to some stores. Don't get me started on the military like presence of the Ferguson police force when this started. It's a chicken/egg thing. Both sides definitely share fault in the escalations.
Funny this story has taken a Trayvon turn. I will wait to reserve judgement of the police officer until all the facts come out. In the mean time, I am not going to shed a tear over the world losing another thug. I find it bizarre that anyone other than his family would.
UTCHE I don't think there are many among all the protestors looters thugs and race baiter who are sorry. They are all just using this as a pretext to cry racism. IF any of them truly care about loss of life they'd be in Chicago where 7 people will killed and dozens more shot since Friday or even NYC where there were multiple murders over the week end Plus they would get better media coverage. But it doesn't fit the racist cry agenda to waste time on black on black murders. Too common an occurrence Browne made bad choices.It may turn out the police office did too.
"If you're goal is to keep the peace the release of that video had the opposite effect. I'm sure this kid isn't an angel but to release it in the midst of the protests displays how out of touch this Ferguson police chief is. Save the video for the investigation and potential trial. At a minimum wait until the energy has died down a bit before releasing it." I can see where they thought releasing the video might take the wind out of the protestors. It at least demonstrated that the "victim" was not a innocent child executed due to his blackness which was the way he seemed to be portrayed early on. Fact was he was an intimidating guy the size of an OL seen roughing up a little old lady in the video. The fact that it has not diffused the tensions speaks to the irrational nature of the protests, not to the inflammatory nature of the video.
this case will be examined thoroughly by law enforcement and lots of lawyers and in the end there will be a big pile of evidence and we can all make our final conclusions based on whatever looks most likely to us Some people still think Sacco and Vanzetti were innocent or that the Rosenbergs were innocent, as opposed to guilty but railroaded.
Totally agree with all recent posts and from the very beginning there should be a wait until all evidence is reviewed by the authorities. The people protesting either have no understanding of the legal process and/or do not care. One would hope it is that they do not understand. However, the governor of Missouri advocating prosecuting the officer prior to review of the evidence is the ultimate in political pandering. Really disgusting for an official of the state.
I understand they were trying to deflate that "angel" narrative but the policeman didn't have any knowledge of the activity that was shown in the video. So, the policeman was acting only on his own predisposed biases and what was happening in the moment. Based on the video, does the kid act like a "thug"? Absolutely. Does that mean he deserved to get shot 6 times including twice in the head? According to at least one autopsy, the first 4 shots were survivable. The last two finished the job.
