After a school shooting, how often did we hear, “he was a good boy, never in trouble,” or “he would always wave to me as I passed, really a friendly guy.”
Remember the description of the Boston bomber Tsarnaev brothers as “regular guys?” A teacher who lived on the same street said, I knew him (Dzhokhar) as nothing but sociable, compassionate, friendly, athletic, just a friendly kid.”
Fast forward to this past week in Ferguson, MO and the killing of 18-year old Michael Brown. “My son just turned 18 and graduated from high school and he didn’t bother nobody,” his mother, Leslie McSpadden told CNN.
He wasn’t armed, yet he lay dead in the street after an altercation with a police officer, who was armed. Call me cynic, but when I heard Brown was 6’ 4 “ and 290 pounds and that he allegedly pushed the officer into his vehicle and tried to get the officer’s gun, I wasn’t buying “he didn’t bother nobody.”
Convenience store video allegedly shows Brown shoving the clerk as he exited with a handful of cigars. (wn.com)
The next day the local police chief, probably frustrated by the hit his officer was taking, released a video and still photographs of Brown allegedly robbing a convenience store and roughing up the clerk. In them you can see how Brown towers over the clerk.
Instead of a pull back after seeing this “good boy” in action, people are saying his character was being assassinated. In a statement, the Brown family was “beyond outraged at the devious way the police chief has chosen to disseminate piece mil (sic) information in a manner intended to assassinate the character of their son …”
And on NBC‘s Meet the Press today, Missouri’s Democrat Governor Jay Nixon shamefully referred to the “disparaging” of the victim and accused the police chief of an “attempt to attack his (Brown’s) character.”
We know there have been instances of police abuse of power and using deadly force when not needed. The sooner we learn the facts in this case the better.
How did the build of police officer involved in this case match up to imposing Brown? How many shots were fired … three or eight as we have heard. Was Brown shot in the back as reported? What have witnesses told investigators? The autopsies should clear up some of the stories.
Stay tuned.
