The Ferguson "robbery" incident report has some problems.

[Moosepoop]

I know it doesn't matter whether Mike Brown stole any cigars or not, and that even if he did it doesn't justify his being killed. That is not in dispute, and not the point of this post.

He did, in fact, take some cigarillos, according to Dorian Johnson's attorney.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ferguson-police-name-michael-brown

“We see that there’s tape, that they claim they got a tape that shows there was some sort of strong-armed robbery,” said Freeman Bosley, Johnson’s attorney. “We need to see that tape, my client did tell us and told the FBI that they went into the store. He told FBI that [Brown] did take cigarillos. He told that to the DOJ and the St. Louis County Police.”

So this post isn't arguing whether he took some cigarillos. This is about the trumping up of the allegations against him after the fact, and after his death.

The incident report contradicts itself -- it's like the officer(s) involved in writing it up were in such a rush to make the story fit the narrative, they got rather sloppy.

At the very beginning of the report, it lists the stolen property as "1.00 BOX OF SWISHER SWEETS CIGARS" with a total value of $48.99. It also indicates that the stolen property has not been recovered. (Did they not recover the cigars at the scene of the shooting?)

Having spent years working in a store that sells most of the Swisher line of products, I'm familiar with their items. First, it wasn't "cigars" that were taken, it was "cigarillos." A small difference, perhaps, but a police report should be accurate as to the item(s) taken. Even though "cigars" may have been the initial impression, a bit of follow-up as to the exact merchandise would have been called for. They came up with a price -- why not the actual name of the item?
Anyway, a box of Swisher Sweets cigarillos retailing for $48.99 would most certainly have been this -- a 50 ct. box (or 60 ct. if it were one of the special buy boxes):



The cigarillos are 4 7/8 inches long, so adding for the thickness of the container itself, the box is just over 5" long, slightly less wide, and a couple of inches deep. This is the box seen in the store video being handed from Mike Brown to Dorian Johnson, and then placed by Johnson back onto the counter.

When Mike Brown pulls away from the counter with objects in his hands, this box is one of them, but he puts it back onto the counter. He drops some things still in his hands, bends down and picks them up, and transfers those in his left hand to his right, so that all of them are in his right hand.

The items in his hand are not large count boxes -- they are longer, narrower, and thinner than the boxed cigarillos. They slide around in his hands and end up sticking out of each side of his right hand. The video is grainy, but I believe that what is in his hand are these:



Resealable foil pouches containg 2 cigarillos each, retailing anywhere from 99 cents to $1.29, depending on the preprinted pricing from the manufacturer. The cigarillos are the same 4 7/8" long, but the pouches they are in are considerably longer/taller than the 50-60 ct. box. There's a lot of room at each end, at the top for the resealable "zipper" and at the bottom for the Surgeon General's warning in black text on white background. These are probably more like 6-7" long, going by memory, though I can't say for certain as I no longer work at the store and can't measure them.

Mike Brown has his encounter with the employee, and leaves with a handful of these pouches, I believe. He certainly did NOT have a 50 ct. box in his hand. He had smaller, more individually packaged items, whether they were the Swisher foil pouches or something else. You can see him in the video with the box in his hands, but then putting it back on the counter before bending to pick up the smaller items that he leaves with.

So... in the incident report, it first says that the stolen property is a box worth $48.99. But later in the report, when an officer is detailing what he was told by the employees, he relates the story that Dorian Johnson put the box back on the counter, then Mike Brown "reached across the counter and grabbed numerous packs of Swisher Sweets and turned to leave the store." It goes into the altercation with the employee at the door, and then states that Brown "exited with the cigars."

OK... so, now the police officer himself has typed out that the box was put on the counter, and that "numerous packs" of Swisher Sweets are what was taken. Then WHY is the stolen property still listed as a BOX worth $48.99?

When he gets to detailing what the video supposedly shows, the officer typing that up states that after Johnson put the box back onto the counter, "Brown turns away from the counter with another box of Swisher Sweet cigars and walks towards the exit door." And then "Brown, still holding a box [of] Swisher Sweets in his hand..."



Now, wait a minute. Did the police report not already say that it was "packs" that were taken, while the box was returned to the counter? Then how on earth does the video show Brown with "another box" rather than the "packs"? Well, it doesn't. It clearly shows individual packs or pouches in his hand, not a largish square box, and this was verified earlier in the report. And yet... it is now typed out that the video shows something that it does not. And the stolen property remains listed as a $48.99 box of cigars rather than a handful of 99 cent to $1.29 or so cigarillos.

There's some contradictions there. And it's obvious that the video shows packs or pouches, not a box. This is some really sloppy patching together of a story, and there doesn't seem to be much concern for facts or accuracy. Yet it was released to the press in this sorry condition.

Just thought I'd throw this out there, as it's been bugging me since the incident report and video came out, and I hadn't seen it mentioned by anyone yet.