I still see a lot of hindsight-aided armchair quarterbacking of Wilson's actions. I wish people would do less of that, especially when we're talking about a "victim" who had robbed a store, assaulted a clerk, assaulted and battered the officer, tried to take his gun, presumably would've murdered the officer with his own gun had he been successful, etc.
If this is the sort of person you are going this forcefully "to bat" for then it really makes me wonder just who exactly some people believe police DO have a right to defend themselves against.
But anyway... when people talk about things like "he should've dodged him like a matador" - setting aside how silly that is in and of itself, and when people talk about things like "well he wasn't necessarily a threat just because he was coming back toward him and ignoring commands" I just need to point something out that most people don't seem to be considering:
Every moment Wilson hadn't yet subdued and neutralized the threat posed by Michael Brown, he was in greater and greater danger.
Again, let's not cloud ourselves with hindsight here. Put yourself in Wilson's position at that moment.
You're alone. You expect backup, but it's not here.
So far, all the aggression and threat has come from this suspect, but where is the other guy? He had a friend who has now sort of disappeared, but he was there next to him not long ago. Is he readying to attack you from behind? Does he have a pistol? Does he have a knife?
They said they were almost to their destination... is this all taking place right next to one of their friends' homes? If they are the kind of guys who would attack a police officer so forcefully and unexpectedly and try to take your firearm then you have to assume Dorian Johnson is prepared to do violence, and you have to assume any and all friends they may have nearby are too.
Is Johnson off getting his own "backup" from the destination they said they'd almost reached?
While you are keeping Brown in your sights and dealing with him... is Johnson arriving with two large angry friends from behind you, sneaking up with weapons?
Obviously, I'm not claiming Wilson was able to think about all these things literally in this kind of detail but these are the kind of (very real) possibilities and threats that a cop has to have in the back of his mind. Or at least those who set police procedure must have in the back of their minds when they're establishing protocols.
The protocol is to gain compliance and neutralize Brown who has proven himself to be a potentially deadly threat to the officer as fast as possible. He has already shown he is entirely prepared to do forceful bursts of violence on Officer Wilson, now he's wounded and even more angry but he's a big guy and he's definitely not looking like he's out of commission.
It is reasonable for an officer who wants to go home alive at the end of this shift, to put Michael Brown down and use as many bullets as he has to in order to see him drop to the ground, and to give him no further patience or additional chances once he's continuing to approach and stubbornly refusing to comply with directives.
There is no more serious situation a person can be in with relation to the police than when they have already been shot by an officer multiple times and are still alive and being given a chance to still live and still comply. Brown getting that chance indicates a remarkable level of generosity on Officer Wilson's part, and a willingness to increase his own risk in the hopes of being able to spare Brown's life (again, every moment he's giving Brown to finally comply is a moment Johnson could be readying an attack from behind.) That Brown would continue to act in a threatening manner and still attempt to attack Wilson in that most serious of situations says everything we need to know about him.
Brown's failure to avail himself of that generously given chance, and Brown's total refusal to stop being an ongoing threat completely validates Wilson's decision to neutralize him with additional gunfire.
