Do you wonder if the Ferguson Police Chief released

[avebury]

the ridiculous story of the alleged robber just as much to make life hell for Ron Johnson as to trash Michael Brown's reputation. Johnson is doing a great job getting the people calmed down and the Police Chief stirs the pot back up again.

Jealousy perhaps?

[oldandhappy]

1. Chief Clueless

needs to take a long vacation -- go away please. Yes, every time he sees a camera he messes up.

[jeff47]

2. He did it to taint the jury pool. (nt)

[Politicalboi]

3. "Because the press asked for it"

Don't you remember all the calls from news outlets demanding to see the robbery tape? Me neither.

[wildeyed]

4. Yeah, the new guy came in and practically walked on water.

Absolutely stirring the pot. He knows his job and reputation are gone. I guess he wants to take as many down with him as possible.

[cui bono]

5. Well, there's definitely character assassination involved

but I just read a story about this and there was a robbery report filed and now there is video showing an altercation with Brown and the store clerk. So I don't think calling it ridiculous is warranted.

That being said, there was NO reason to have shot and especially killed Brown. Even if he did commit robbery he should not have even been shot once while fleeing, especially not over a $49 box of cigars. He got shot for not being completely subordinate to a police officer.

But hyperbole doesn't help.

[avebury]

6. The only problem is that none of the witnesses have

stated that Brown was carrying anything when he was shot. What happened to the cigars he was alleged to have stolen? The cherry picked pictures paint a far worse picture then the actual video which really is not that bad. There is no way that you can make the inference that he stole anything just based upon the video.

[cui bono]

8. Actually, Dorian Johnson did. I heard it so it must have been an MSNBC interview.

I'll try to find the link.

Here it is:

At 2:40 he says Brown's "hands were filled" with cigarellos (?). That his hands were not free.

[niyad]

17. if his hands were filled with cigars (and what kind of fool would be carrying them in his

hands if he just stole them), what was he choking or beating the officer with?

[cui bono]

18. That was the point of Dorian bringing it up, that his hands were full so he couldn't have reached

for the gun or assaulted the officer or anything.

[sunnystarr]

11. Those were like 99 cent cigars ...

They sell individually, in a box of 5 for about $4.50 and in a box of 100 for around $49. I don't think he was toting a box of 100 of them.

[cui bono]

14. Oh. I got the price off of the police report.

I don't know how many he was carrying. But it really doesn't matter. Even if he were carrying $490 worth it doesn't warrant him being shot in the back.

[sunnystarr]

19. You got that right ...

it just burns me that they had to inflate the price of the cigarillo's too. It's also irritating that they put the names on the incident report retroactively. At the time of the incident that officer didn't have them identified to put all their personal info on the report and to link it to the shooting in the report. The shooting had nothing to do with the shoplifting.

[cleduc]

7. I don't have a problem with them releasing the story about the robbery

It may provide some motive for the altercation that went on before the shooting.

I'm not saying it gets the police officer off the hook but it provides some balance and may help a few folks calm down to contemplate that there are two sides to the story and therefore, to let the wheels of justice roll on rather than riot and take matters into their own hands.

Although it may have no direct bearing on the case, I also didn't mind finding out about this either:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html
Maybe some good will come from Mike Brown's loss of life to help address that injustice while we're at it.

Cockroaches don't like bright lights shone on them.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

9. The video doesn't look anywhere near as violent as the still photos

The incident on the video looks like Brown was on his way out and shoved the store owner aside, which took fractions of a second. The still photos make it look like he's attacking the store owner and grabbing him around the neck. Brown doesn't come off looking good either way, but I completely agree with the Brown family attorney that the choice of specific still photos paint a different picture and looked calculated to show him in the most unfavorable light.

[uponit7771]

10. Johnson is ready for prime time, FPD is not... not at all

[winter is coming]

12. To me, it looks like a blatant attempt to stir up the protesters. n/t

[avebury]

13. Making life for difficult for Johnson would just be

a bonus thrown in.

[winter is coming]

16. You know it's gotta chap their collective ass that he came in and got near-instant success

with a low-key community policing approach. It makes it obvious that their geared-up confrontational style was a big fat fail.

[MrScorpio]

15. Hell, Chief Wiggum can do a better job of running that department than he has