Michael Brown Shooting

[Puppycow]

Police arrested reporters who were sitting in McDonalds eating:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/08/reporters-arrested-in-ferguson-193914.html?hp=t1

Reporters from The Washington Post and the Huffington Post were arrested in Ferguson, Mo., on Wednesday night while covering the protests that have rocked the St. Louis suburb.

Wesley Lowery, a Washington Post political reporter, and Ryan Reilly, a Huffington Post justice reporter, were arrested in a McDonalds shortly before 8 p.m. ET. Police entered the restaurant and told patrons there to leave, the reporters wrote on Twitter after their release. The police then asked Lowery and Reilly for their identification and, according to the reporters, arrested them because they weren't packing their bags fast enough.

Lowery also said the police officers "assaulted" him. "Officers slammed me into a fountain soda machine because I was confused about which door they were asking me to walk out of," he wrote on Twitter. Lowery also said that he and Reilly were released without paperwork or charges, and that the officers refused to provide the reporters with their names.

Martin Baron, the executive editor of The Washington Post, said late Wednesday night that “there was absolutely no justification for [Lowery's] arrest."

"He was illegally instructed to stop taking video of officers. Then he followed officers' instructions to leave a McDonald's — and after contradictory instructions on how to exit, he was slammed against a soda machine and then handcuffed," Baron said in a statement. "That behavior was wholly unwarranted and an assault on the freedom of the press to cover the news. The physical risk to Wesley himself is obvious and outrageous."

"After being placed in a holding cell, he was released with no charges and no explanation," Baron continued. "He was denied information about the names and badge numbers of those who arrested him. We are relieved that Wesley is going to be OK. We are appalled by the conduct of police officers involved.?"

 

[dudalb]

I was on the fence, but that arrrest of the reporters stinks on ice.
Somebody is trying to hide something..and has just commited one of the most stupid acts I have seen a while.
Arresting a couple of reporters from one of the most powerful newspapers in the country is really,really stupid. Now the Ferguson PD has become the #1 target of every major news outlet in the country.
And I now have to wonder if the stink does not go farther then the Police Department. Just saw the mayor act like nothing of importance was going on.
This kind of crap did not cut it in the 1960's in the South,and it certainly will not cut it now.
I was waiting for the evidence to come in.Now it has, and something is very wrong in Ferguson.
You can put down the shooting, tragic though it might be, to one cop who might have panicked.But the arrest of the reporters and the behavior I ma seeing from the city officials indicates something a lot more widespread.

 

[LTC8K6]

You...may prefer not to browse through the following few links...

http://instagram.com/elonjames

http://instagram.com/jbouie

https://vine.co/u/912223639460524032

Or perhaps you do.

Sorry, but while it's true that not *all* police are bad, *these* police are pointing high-powered rifles at peaceful, daytime protesters, from the top of an armored car. That seems pretty ******* bad to me...

Maybe "less than lethal" crowd control ammo?

 

[Unabogie]

I was on the fence, but that arrrest of the reporters stinks on ice.
Somebody is trying to hide something..and has just commited one of the most stupid acts I have seen a while.
Arresting a couple of reporters from one of the most powerful newspapers in the country is really,really stupid. Now the Ferguson PD has become the #1 target of every major news outlet in the country.
And I now have to wonder if the stink does not go farther then the Police Department. Just saw the mayor act like nothing of importance was going on.
This kind of crap did not cut it in the 1960's in the South,and it certainly will not cut it now.
I was waiting for the evidence to come in.Now it has, and something is very wrong in Ferguson.
You can put down the shooting, tragic though it might be, to one cop who might have panicked.But the arrest of the reporters and the behavior I ma seeing from the city officials indicates something a lot more widespread.

This makes it sound like the Mayor is totally out of the loop.

http://gawker.com/washington-post-huffpo-reporters-arrested-in-ferguson-1621284034

I just called Ferguson police chief to ask about @WesleyLowery and @ryanjreilly, told him what I knew. His response: "Oh, God."

 

[LTC8K6]

He probably regrets inviting outside police units in to patrol his city.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

well, except fists, elbows, teeth, nails, knees.... SG, I'm sure you did an ER rotation and saw injuries caused by most of the weapons I listed.

And I'm not sure of the stats, but nearly as many cops get shot by their own guns as by the perp's gun. It is a real fear. I guess perps are easily tempted by the readily available weapon.

And a bit more pertinent to this case, can a cop sitting in his car reach out and grab somebody by the neck? What kind of car, Crown Vic, or SUV? How tall was our "victim"? It would sure be easier for the cop to grab him if he was leaning into or at least towards, the cop.

hmmm, if there was a resident of that neighborhood, and starting filming when the cop told the fellas to get on the sidewalk, and had pics of the fellas starting the altercation, do you think the videographer will come forward to vindicate the cop? In that neighbor hood? hmmmm. ?

Though half the time, they seem to edit off the first part, and only show the "victim" get shot, not him attacking the cop. Like on the recent incident of the CHP officer collaring the crazy woman on the freeway.

None of that explains shooting a fleeing kid you originally only stopped for jaywalking.

There is such a thing as 'reasonable' in 'reasonable force'.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Saw an article today with a pic of the woman and her lawyer. As I predicted, she was not taking her prescribed medication.
Cop saved her life and probably stopped a traffic nightmare of people trying to avoid hitting her, but he did throw some pillow-punches and got video'd doing it so no thanks going to him.

Pillow punches?

My my, such an imagination it must take to make the real world fit into your personal version.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Thank you. As I recall you might know something about this: how long would it take to perform that autopsy, keeping in mind they might want to get a second or third opinion as to ensure that nothing is missed?

It's my understanding the police spokesperson said the autopsy was done and they weren't releasing the results. They may be waiting for toxicology reports or waiting for the neighborhood to calm down which tells you the report isn't likely to make the cop look good.

 

[Kaosium]

None of that explains shooting a fleeing kid you originally only stopped for jaywalking.

There is such a thing as 'reasonable' in 'reasonable force'.

From what I've been able to determine the police story claims that the officer was assaulted and Michael Brown went for his weapon.

They also admit that at least one shot was fired from inside the car. That's not going to be easy to fit into the above in my opinion.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

There's a female witness? Is that possibly the one who wishes to remain anonymous that Unabogie posted earlier, the one where your favorite news brand gave the impression the witness was saying there were three police there for when the final shots were fired?

I do think I recall Dorian Johnson mentioning people in cars in his statement, thus if that's accurate there ought to be more witnesses.

Not at all anonymous, she's on news interviews at the scene. I saw the interview the day of the shooting before Sharpton put her comments and Johnson's side by side. Johnson gave an interview to the news media shortly after the shooting as well.

 

[Matthew Cline]

He was illegally instructed to stop taking video of officers.

Hey, having their pictures taken might have stolen their souls.

 

[Kaosium]

It's my understanding the police spokesperson said the autopsy was done and they weren't releasing the results. They may be waiting for toxicology reports or waiting for the neighborhood to calm down which tells you the report isn't likely to make the cop look good.

Thank you, I suspected that might be the case. How much longer would you expect the toxicology tests to take?

I do understand the need to prevent riots, however from a cursory look it doesn't seem they're very good at it.

 

[Mumbles]

Thank you, I suspected that might be the case. How much longer would you expect the toxicology tests to take?

I do understand the need to prevent riots, however from a cursory look it doesn't seem they're very good at it.

From the looks of things, they seem to *be* the rioters.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

From what I've been able to determine the police story claims that the officer was assaulted and Michael Brown went for his weapon.

They also admit that at least one shot was fired from inside the car. That's not going to be easy to fit into the above in my opinion.

Even Johnson says one shot was fired before the cop exited the car. He said it hit Brown who started running.

Johnson says the cop grabbed Brown by the neck through the car window. That should show on the autopsy.

Without knowing what happened at the car itself, you still have Brown a distance away when he was fell and multiple witnesses saying more than one shot was fired.

What scenario justifies shooting Brown as he fled?

 

[dudalb]

Still amazed that the police think they can get away with intimidating reporters from one of the top newspapers in the US in an age of instant journalism.Really,really, stupid.

And watch:some Morons will support this while screaming about how Obama is oppressing them.

 

[Kaosium]

Not at all anonymous, she's on news interviews at the scene. I saw the interview the day of the shooting before Sharpton put her comments and Johnson's side by side. Johnson gave an interview to the news media shortly after the shooting as well.

Do you mean Desiree Harris, the grandmother?

 

[qayak]

What scenario justifies shooting Brown as he fled?

Fat cop who can't run?

 

[LTC8K6]

It's my understanding the police spokesperson said the autopsy was done and they weren't releasing the results. They may be waiting for toxicology reports or waiting for the neighborhood to calm down which tells you the report isn't likely to make the cop look good.

Perhaps the results are likely to inflame tensions because they do not favor the witness reports and/or they are unfavorable to Brown?

I suppose it could be either way.

 

[LTC8K6]

Even Johnson says one shot was fired before the cop exited the car. He said it hit Brown who started running.

Johnson says the cop grabbed Brown by the neck through the car window. That should show on the autopsy.

Without knowing what happened at the car itself, you still have Brown a distance away when he was fell and multiple witnesses saying more than one shot was fired.

What scenario justifies shooting Brown as he fled?

Brown could have run 35 feet after being shot near the car. It wouldn't match some witness testimony, but it's entirely possible.

 

[Kaosium]

Even Johnson says one shot was fired before the cop exited the car. He said it hit Brown who started running.

Yes, I've been going over his report in print and in voice.

Johnson says the cop grabbed Brown by the neck through the car window. That should show on the autopsy.

Indeed.

Without knowing what happened at the car itself, you still have Brown a distance away when he was fell and multiple witnesses saying more than one shot was fired.

Indeed, several shots seems to be a common theme.

What scenario justifies shooting Brown as he fled?

They're aren't many, are there?