Of all the needless avoidable, and tragic things that happened that day, I don't believe this is one I would highlight as a wrong against Brown.

If the shop owner didn't see the need to contact police, then, was it really "assault/battery'? I mean, wouldn't they have to press charges for that to happen? If they chose to not press charges, then - no charges, right? It's not a domestic thing, where the state would step in and press charges. So, perhaps the owners didn't find it to be that big of a deal?

And more importantly, the owner is saying that he doesn't even think it was Mike Brown?

Did the suspect say anything during the whole thing? Did he pay for some of the items? There had to have been something said during the event.

I can understand the guy downplaying the robbery or assault or whatever because his store has been damaged twice already and he never accused Brown of anything. If he had accused Brown it could have been a lot worse.

I really wish more people would study this case.

It's one of many in which unarmed black people are gunned down by police.

I constantly see people falling all over themselves trying to find reasons why Wilson murdered Brown.

If every killer of an unarmed person got so much benefit of the doubt, about half the murderers currently in prison would have been acquitted or not even charged.

I'm dismayed at how hard it it for so many so-called liberals to believe that a police officer might murder an unarmed black person and lie about it.

There are dozens of such cases in very recent history.

And throughout American history, I shudder to think of how many. Thousands?

Doesn't police audio show that the police knew about the crime (whoever it was that perpetrated it)?

If yes, how did they find out about it if it wasn't reported? If no, how did they know a crime was even committed? Obviously, the tape of the crime came out and I fail to see how it would have if the shop owner was okay with whatever happened.

and obtained the tape from the shop owner's cameras. The shop owner NEVER went to police about the incident and I've heard at some point that the owner even denied that it was Mike Brown in the shop. And, I've also heard that the disagreement in the shop was simply that Mike Brown was reaching across the counter, nothing more than that. apparently, Mike Brown shopped in their shop often and they were pretty familiar with each other.

The police heard about it by a third party after the shooting, not the owner or employee according to on tape interviews with them, probably an informant. The police then went looking for the tape hours or days later and edited to look like something it wasn't.

The whole tape was eventually made public but not everyone saw it or agreed what it showed.

I do know that the grand jury was a dog and pony show. The prosecutor helped raise money for Wilson's defense and charity fund and he had several members of is immediate family who were in law enforcement in the area. Lots of evidence was omitted. The Bar association registered a complaint on what happened. I never heard that happen before.

this was immediately after the incident and not after the riots/looting. So, his shop hadn't had anything yet.

mike brown so what's the difference? The store owner probably fears reprisals.

His store was looted as well...

How do you know it's him?

But there is no evidence of any kind of shoplifting or
robbery in the video.

And why he shoved that guy, who was blocking his
way out, we can only guess. Maybe that's the person
who called the police.

None of it justifies Wilson's attitude and choices.

The term is strong-arm robbery, and it is very clear on the video. Who is shown is irrelevant when the initial call goes out, it is all witness description based.

Nothing that was unusual during an average day in the US happened until Brown attacked, and then, at least in my eyes, he was chased and shot from such a distance.

A robbery followed by detentions of possible suspects, as well as unfairly profiled bystanders in the vicinity of the crime plays out everywhere.

I guess my point is that the real focus should be where the story deviated from the norm, which is the confrontation in the vehicle, followed by an unnecessary chase and escalation at a distance.

And even further down the line...an unbelievable dive job by the DA.

Shop owner was not interested in "pressing charges" over less than $5 of merchandise.

I smell a skunk...

more than assaulted...he was trying to stop him from leaving and he was pushed away bruskly....it was definetly not done with intention to hurt that man.....just get him out of the way so that he could leave. If he actually had malice towards him he could have beat him or grabbed something and hit him with it.....but he didn't...he roughly pushed him aside..... I guess he should have lifted him ever so gently....then placed him down tenderly on a pillow of feathers so that he could leave.

All of this happened over a lousy box of extremely cheap cigars....this was a 17 yr old Young men at that age are not fully grown nor are their brains and their decision making skills are not fully matured. For all we know this is the one and only thing like this this kid had ever done....No criminal record and about to start attending Community College..

Kids sometimes do bad things....most don't end up shot dead by a cop just for stealing a box of lousy cigars...or playing "bang...bang...bang" with a toy gun alone in a park...

Yet some....like Ethan Couch.....get probation after Driving While Intoxicated and killing dead 4 of his young friends....... but the Judge and Jury agree......This "poor" little White boy suffers from a chronic case of Affluenza!

Here is what this little "thug" looks like...


I think he even has that "demonic" look about him....

Can you imagine THAT even happening to a Black kid???? Don't worry no one can...

He and his snotty family are a blight on society. Spoiled brat.

he'd be a thug.

I suspect he's probably a bully, although I know for sure that he's a spoiled brat who has never had to take responsibility for his actions and got away with killing people while drunk.

prejudged!

Also, police can press charges without the shop keepers consent, and somebody in the store called 911, the radio traffic proves the call was made almost immediately.

who was in the store called 911 - not the shop owner or anyone from the shop.

If you stab someone and cause them to die you have committed murder whether charges are brought or not.

That's not even a serious question is it?

Maybe the shop owner didn't call police bc no crime was committed? Read my other post on here of what I think could have happened. I have had someone mistakenly think I took something without paying, stopped me at the door - and then they realized that I DID pay - and I went on my way. Sometimes, people make mistakes - maybe the shop owner thought that Mike Brown took more than he paid for - as he obviously paid for something at the counter while he had an interaction with the owner/clerk. But, Dorian Johnson put the ones he was handed back on the counter, and maybe those were the only ones that weren't paid for - and when the owner got back up there, realized that they had been put back on the counter and realized he had made a mistake, not theft happened, and that's why he didn't call police. I don't know why that is so much harder to believe than an 18 year old guy walked into a store, with cameras, that he had been in a million times and most likely knew there were cameras, and just in open view of the owners and clerks picked up cigars and didn't pay and walked out.

Just making sure that stance applies to both parties.

... And was found to have acted within the scope of his duties.

At most, it seems he is a killer but we've known that for a long time.

It's in the same sense that a homeowner who kills an invader is not a murderer which requires an illegal taking off life.

"this Friday the owners of the store announced that they never said that they believed Michael Brown was even the individual who stole the item from their store."

If the store owners are doubting that it was Mike Brown, then continuing to claim it definitely was is decidedly "a wrong against Brown."

never mind what the supposed victim said...

But nobody seems to be paying attention that this and it is bothersome. I mean, that seems kind of important since so many who are defending Wilson are using this "strong arm robbery" as a reason for the killing?

He's worried about getting his store torched or worse.

He's kept his mouth shut.

And no employee or owner of the store EVER called the police to report a theft or robbery on August 9, 2014. Apparently a customer who did not know exactly what was happening called.

The Ferguson Police Department have pushed this claim of "strong armed robbery" in an attempt to justify the homicide of Michael Brown.

Michael Brown will be forever innocent of robbery since a dead man cannot be convicted of a crime. Darren Wilson made sure of that.

event, that even he did not see the need to call the police. And Wilson did not know about the incident anyhow, he lied about that as we know now. Both his supervisor and the Ferguson Police Chief stated he did NOT know about that incidence when he killed Michael Brown.

I saw two people pushing each other in that video, no assault and battery. The person the police say was Brown, was accosted by the store clerk, he simply pushed him away in order to go out the door. A minor incident being used to try to justify murder.

Plus the store owner never said it was him or that he robbed the shop. Despite people all over the WWW saying otherwise.

Right after the mid-terms, 3 or 4 people just showed up out of nowhere on DU and started disrupting immediately. They are nothing but concern trolls so I will never take them seriously.

store owner is scared.

... and Wilson asking if they needed any help in searching for the suspects.

"At 11:53 a.m., a dispatcher reported a “stealing in progress” at the Ferguson Market. The 911 operator was still talking to the caller in the background. In a second broadcast, 19 seconds later, the dispatcher says the suspect is a black male in a white T-shirt running toward QuikTrip, and had stolen a box of Swisher cigars.

About four minutes later, there’s more detail: the suspect is wearing a red Cardinals hat, a white T-shirt, yellow socks and khaki shorts, and is accompanied by another man.

At noon, Wilson reports that he’s back in service from the sick-baby call. He then asks the officers searching for the thieves – units 25 and 22 – if they need him. Seven seconds later, an unidentified officer broadcasts that the suspects had disappeared.

At 12:02 p.m., Wilson says, “21. Put me on Canfield with two. And send me another car.” His call triggered at least two officers to head his way, including one who said he was close to Wilson."

http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/special/darren-wilson-s-radio-calls-show-fatal-encounter-was-brief/html_79c17aed-0dbe-514d-ba32-bad908056790.html

And, there's this:

I don't think so. What it means is that Wilson was unaware of the full description that came out over the radio and he lied later.

... just happened to be the people stopped. I mean, what are the chances someone would get that lucky to stop someone that happened to fit the EXACT description of the person the dispatcher just described minutes earlier?

Considering that they were walking down the middle of the street, it wasn't hard to spot them.

the radio dispatch.

Here's a link to the actual radio transcript:

http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1370609-radio-traffic.html

I challenge you to name the specific track that shows Wilson had any awareness of the alleged robbery from the Ferguson Market. All I see is 'Track 366' where Wilson says, "Do you guys need me?" (with absolutely no reference to what he is referring or why he thinks he might be needed) and nothing else to indicate that Wilson knew of any alleged robbery. In fact, it is entirely possible that Wilson's question to 25 and 22 as to whether he was needed was in response to an earlier incident the two were involved in on Sharondale (referenced in Track 325). IOW, Wilson asks if 22 and 25 'need me' but you have no idea why he's asking them that nor in reference to which call he's asking about whether he's needed.

So you should stop with the mis-representations, lest your credibility on other matters also come into question.

Wilson "could" have meant to help on something that happened about a half hour before. Or, he could have been been asking if they needed help on the issue both of them were currently working on, looking for suspects that the dispatcher had just given the description for, and that Wilson was in the area for. Only one of those possibilities doesn't strain credulity.

You should stop grasping at straws to try to explain away reality, "lest your credibility on other matters also come into question."

Edit: that isn't my interpretation of the transcript either, it's the STL Dispatch's.

store incident. It took weeks for them to even come up with the incident. Who is grasping here?

"It took weeks for them to even come up with the incident."

No, it took weeks for them to present the video to the media. That is not the same thing as them not knowing what Brown did.

just sat on it? Or do you think they had to take time to attempt to fit it in to an explanation of why Wilson murdered Brown?

... just happened to have robbed a convenience store just minutes before. Talk about kismet.

And you disregard all the evidence that Wilson didn't even know about the alleged incident that never even occurred (stealing a box).

Curse all you want but the only thing kismet had to do with it is the police being lucky enough (however belatedly) to find that Brown had been involved in a minor incident at the store, however irrelevant and unprovable it might be.

The one you are replying to is one of those 'people'.

... and lock themselves into denial mode.

"...alleged incident that never even occurred (stealing a box)"

http://i.imgur.com/f5yGFH4.webm

What do you think those things in his hand are? You know, the things that he's walking out of the store without paying for. The things that he assaults the store owner over. You are so caught up in grasping for straws that you are willing to deny that he has about a box worth of cigarillos in his hand as he walks out the door.

come out of a convenience store with items in my hand. Doesn't mean that I stole them ffs.

FFS

many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

Again: what track # in the radio dispatch shows that Wilson had any specific awareness of the robbery at the Ferguson Market or that he had any awareness of the descriptions of the robbers that dispatch had broadcast while he was on the call to help the baby with breathing problems?

Let's try to stick to the evidence and the facts, shall we, and not spin elaborate theories out of pure air and supposition?

Provide some evidence for it.

Because the timeline doesn't seem to support it at all.

nobody stole the box. So maybe he didn't steal anything. Maybe he really did pay for what he took or maybe the clerk wouldn't sell them to him. We can't hear what took place at the counter. Maybe there is a good reason the clerk didn't want to call the police.

What we can tell is that it was pretty assuredly Mike Brown and that the "strong arm" wasn't much of anything and certainly not an excuse for murdering him in cold blood.

This is my whole issue with this tape and the people spouting off about a robbery. There is no audio and I can't tell much from the tape, seriously, I can't. I see him putting cigarillos on the counter, taking them off, Dorian putting some on the counter. Did he pay for one, and tried to take two? But Dorian put the one back he had been handed - but the shop owner didn't see Dorian put them back so he tried to stop them, thinking they were taking two boxes while only paying for one? But then, got back to the counter, found the box that Dorian had put back - and didn't call the police bc nothing happened but a small misunderstanding?

Michael Brown Robbed Convenience Store, Stole Cigarillos Before Darren Wilson Shooting, Dorian Johnson Says
By Thomas Barrabi@TBarrabit.barrabi@ibtimes.com
November 25 2014 3:59 PM

Michael Brown robbed a Ferguson, Missouri, convenience store of two handfuls of cigarillos just minutes before Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot him on Aug. 9, according to his friend Dorian Johnson’s testimony before a St. Louis County grand jury. Wilson testified Brown’s possession of the cigarillos was the impetus behind the encounter that ultimately led to his death.

“I asked , I looked at him, actually, looked at him for a while and stared at him because the times when I did meet him before that day, he didn’t strike me as a person who would do anything like that. … He was basically laughing it off, be cool, be calm, stuff like that, laughing it off, but in my head I’m like, I can’t be calm, I can’t be cool because I know what just happened and we were on camera,” Johnson said.

On their way toward their apartment complex, Johnson and Brown saw the first of three Ferguson police cruisers. The first car didn’t stop and continued on to a McDonald’s parking lot. Brown walked down the street with the cigarillos in plain sight, adjusting his haul so that he had an approximately equal number of the miniature cigars in each hand. Johnson saw a second police cruiser. Again, he and Brown were not stopped.

http://www.ibtimes.com/michael-brown-robbed-convenience-store-stole-cigarillos-darren-wilson-shooting-dorian-1729359

He also is pretty clear on how his friend got killed and how the two of them were nearly run over.

In his testimony.

testimony they believe. Meaning they accept Johnson's words when those tend to support Wilson's fanciful account but they reject Johnson's words when they utterly demolish the fable Wilson put forward. Johnson NEVER says that Wilson said one word about any alleged robbery. NOT ONE WORD!

Sympathetic figure. I think he fears for his safety, and I don't blame him.

I don't see how anyone doubts this considering that he told so many things that incriminate himself and Mike Brown, yet told them he did. I have to read young people for a living, he's telling the truth, I have no doubt. I wish that he could be more clear when he describes things, but I did love it when they asked him at the GJ what he thought Wilson was thinking - and he was like, yeah, I can't speak on what is in someone else's head. Seriously, no idea why they could even ask him that?! But, he was being honest and there were things he couldn't quite remember, and things he could - which is expected in a traumatic incident - unlike Wilson's perfect, infallible, memory whilst someone was allegedly trying to kill him. Rme.

Some customer did. It wouldn't be surprising if the customer wasn't completely clear as to what was stolen, or might have said "box" as shorthand for a bunch of cigarillos. To my understanding, no one that was actually in the store (including Dorrian Johnson) has claimed that Brown paid for the cigarillos.

No one is claiming that Brown should have been killed for stealing cigarillos.

Something (with words) transpired with the cashier that we aren't privy to. That is the point.

And the customer was definitely wrong!

Michael Brown Robbed Convenience Store, Stole Cigarillos Before Darren Wilson Shooting, Dorian Johnson Says
By Thomas Barrabi@TBarrabit.barrabi@ibtimes.com
November 25 2014 3:59 PM

Michael Brown robbed a Ferguson, Missouri, convenience store of two handfuls of cigarillos just minutes before Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot him on Aug. 9, according to his friend Dorian Johnson’s testimony before a St. Louis County grand jury. Wilson testified Brown’s possession of the cigarillos was the impetus behind the encounter that ultimately led to his death.

“I asked [Brown], I looked at him, actually, looked at him for a while and stared at him because the times when I did meet him before that day, he didn’t strike me as a person who would do anything like that. … He was basically laughing it off, be cool, be calm, stuff like that, laughing it off, but in my head I’m like, I can’t be calm, I can’t be cool because I know what just happened and we were on camera,” Johnson said.

On their way toward their apartment complex, Johnson and Brown saw the first of three Ferguson police cruisers. The first car didn’t stop and continued on to a McDonald’s parking lot. Brown walked down the street with the cigarillos in plain sight, adjusting his haul so that he had an approximately equal number of the miniature cigars in each hand. Johnson saw a second police cruiser. Again, he and Brown were not stopped.

http://www.ibtimes.com/michael-brown-robbed-convenience-store-stole-cigarillos-darren-wilson-shooting-dorian-1729359

And I wouldn't trust a word of what he said after the officers got to speak to him.

There is no proof that Dorian even knows what happened. If he heard the conversation with the clerk why hasn't it been told? If not, then he doesn't know himself.

No receipt, no credit card transaction, and no one in the store saying he paid.

But, there is sworn testimony from a witness that he did steal them, a witness that called in a theft almost immediately, and video of him pushing the owner out of the way when he tried to stop him from leaving.

All things being equal, it's looking like he stole them.

Apparently not. Nor did the clerk testify.

And the witness also said he didn't know if they were stolen and he sure didn't act like he was with a shoplifting suspect at the time.

All things being equal, it looks like he may not have stolen them to me.

Brown is dead so they can't prosecute him. Nothing the clerk would have to say would be material to Darren Wilson's GJ.

"...he sure didn't act like he was with a shoplifting suspect at the time."

Shoving a store owner that was trying to stop Brown from leaving isn't how a shoplifter would act?

I didn't see a shove. I saw a push back after being grabbed. And no, I have witnessed shoplifters and they usually make a quick get away and avoid confrontations. Nothing like what transpired in this incident.

All the evidence points to him robbing the place. All the witnesses. All the testimony. All the video. All of Brown's reactions. None of it points to him having paid. No witnesses. No testimony. No receipt. Nothing. But, it doesn't matter because you have decided you will not be convinced.

The clerk would have absolutely no insight into anything once Brown left the store. None.

Are you seriously denying that Brown shoved the guy?

Watch again: http://i.imgur.com/f5yGFH4.webm

Did you not see him get flung into the chip rack? It's like you can't even acknowledge things that can be visually confirmed.

"they usually make a quick get away"

Pretty hard to do if the store owner is blocking your path. I wonder how someone would get around in that situation.

Oh yeah, like this: http://i.imgur.com/f5yGFH4.webm

If so, aren't plenty of Black Friday shoppers guilty of it?

As for the rest of your 'ALL' claims, hogwash.

... then I guess so.

Yes, shoving is assault by any honest person's standard.

or verifiable. That is undeniably, hogwash.

And no, shoving is not an assault by any honest person's standard. I call hogwash on that too.

The existence of video, sworn testimony, and witnesses isn't documented or verifiable.

Can I get a clarification on if you think black is indeed white and if up is now down?

... and the fact that video, sworn testimony, and witnesses count as evidence, one has to wonder what basic concepts of reality you are willing to accept.

... the customers would convince them.

Even as I type it, I can see that wouldn't be enough either because some evil conspiracy would really be the one forcing them to do it from behind the scenes

I have gone over this stuff SO many times from SO many directions with SO many DUers. All the evidence points in one direction, but people will perform mental gymnastics and bludgeon their own common sense with a lead pipe to keep from admitting it.

Learn to recognize when you are shouting into the wind.

Some of these folks entire identities require that they perform those mental gymnastics you talked about because they are utterly and completely incapable of handling their life any other way.

You come out to play... make your point... maybe make it twice... and then move on.

Some folks can't be helped.

I was speaking of an insightful person...

Questioning anything other than what you believe is simply ridiculous.

Not to mention that you guys are putting your full faith in a guy who sees demons and wants us to believe that a guy that just shop lifted a minor amount reached inside his car and grabbed his gun. And then after running off turned around and (wait, is that when he turned in to the demon?) friggen charged him even though he had already been shot.

That scenario is not the least bit ridiculous!

The adults are discussing the inability of some to take in information that they find emotionally inconvenient.

That isn't questioning... That is sticking your fingers in your ears and humming...

Bullying doesn't work with me. Might as well try elsewhere.

discussing the same thing. The lack of ability of some to take information that they find emotionally inconvenient. We aren't the ones with our ears in our fingers.