I’ve annoyed a lot of electrons writing about the civil unrest going down in Ferguson, Missouri but I haven’t dedicated any time to the shooting that lead up to the unrest. There’s a reason for this. As of this writing there is no evidence supporting any side of the story. But there are a lot of people who are parroting the claim that the officer, Darren Wilson, was assaulted and a lot of people parroting the claim that Michael Brown was an angel. Let’s look at the source of these claims.
First, let’s look at the claim that Brown robbed a convenience store before the shooting. When Wilson’s name was released the Ferguson Police Department also released surveillance camera footage supposedly showing Brown stealing cigars from a convenience store. Others have used that footage to demonstrate that Brown did pay for those cigars. Which story is true? Who knows. Heck evidence exists that Wilson didn’t know Brown was a robbery suspect during their encounter, which would make the entire debate pointless.
Second, let’s look at the claims that Wilson was attacked by Brown. Claims have been made that Wilson suffered facial fractures, which would indicate he was in a physical confrontation with Brown. The first place I saw this claim made was the Gateway Pundit, which cited two unnamed sources. The x-ray imagine included with that article was sourced from this article describing blowout fractures, it isn’t an x-ray of Wilson himself. Fox News also picked up the story and also cited unnamed sources. In other words there is no evidence that Wilson was engaged in a fight with Brown. What we do have are some claims made by unknown sources. It could be true just as well as it could be false.
Third, some jimmies have been rustled over the claim that Brown was a gangster. This claim, as far as I can tell, was based on a picture released by a Kansas City police officer of a man with a wad of cash in his mouth holding a gun. According to the people circulating the picture it is of Brown. But, as it turns out, it’s probably a picture of an accused murder suspect in Oregon.
And that’s the problem with discussions about the shooting itself. No evidence exists to support any claims being made. None. Everything released so far is either speculation or fabrication. Until evidence is released about the shooting I’m going to continue to remain mostly silent about it. There’s just no point in shifting electrons to make words appear on your screen regarding it.