By
Susan L. Ruth
FERGUSON, MO., August 16, 2014 — Michael Brown was the 18-year old man shot in the street of Ferguson, Missouri on August 9 by police officer Darren Wilson.
Brown had just graduated from Normandy High School in the spring and was scheduled to start classes at
Vatterott College, which has four different campuses in the St. Louis area, to learn the heating and cooling trade, two days after he was shot.
Brown had been visiting his grandmother, Desuirea Harrison, in the blue collar neighborhood of Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis on the fateful day when he and a friend headed out and stopped at a convenience store.
Through the released surveillance video from that convenience store, it is clear that at six feet four inches, Brown was a big boy. A big boy who was in an intimidating and provocative mood that day.
A big boy who was unarmed and ended up lying in the street dead from an officer’s gunshots.
That is about where the known facts end, and where the spin from both sides begins.
From watching the recently released surveillance video, it is clear that regardless of the claims of family members saying Brown was a gentle giant, on that day he was not in a gentle mood.
The
video shows Michael Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson inside the Ferguson market. It appears that Brown asks the clerk for cigars and when he puts the inexpensive, machine rolled cigars on the counter, Brown picks them up and hands them to Johnson.
The clerk says something, presumably asking for money. Brown then reaches across the counter grabbing more packages of the cigars and then the two boys head for the door.
The video shows the clerk running for the door in an attempt to stop the boys. Brown, who was considerably larger than the clerk, takes the clerk by the shirt and pushes him away.
The clerk says something and Brown aggressively comes toward the clerk again. As the employee backs away, Brown and Johnson leave the store.
This is reportedly when that clerk called the police to report the theft, which brought Officer Darren Wilson onto the scene.
The video depicts a much different Michael Brown than the one in the photo released by the family of a much younger Brown at a Chuck-e-Cheese type establishment.
After watching the video, it is not hard to believe that Brown was the type of kid who would walk down the middle of the street blocking traffic. Nor is it hard to believe that he was the type of person who would engage a police officer, but he was also the type of person who should have survived that confrontation.
Michael Brown had the desire to aggravate that day. He gained police attention by stealing and then walking down the middle of the street, interfering with traffic. Unfortunately, he earned the attention from the wrong policeman.
It is extremely difficult to explain shooting an unarmed man. It is impossible to justify the second shot.
