"... has been living for several months on a nondescript dead-end street on the outskirts of St. Louis. Most of the nearby houses are clad in vinyl siding; there are no sidewalks, and few cars around. Wilson, who is twenty-nine, started receiving death threats not long after the incident, in which Brown was killed in the street shortly after robbing a convenience store. Although Wilson recently bought the house, his name is not on the deed, and only a few friends know where he lives. He and his wife, Barb, who is thirty-seven, and also a former Ferguson cop, rarely linger in the front yard. Because of such precautions, Wilson has been leading a very quiet life. During the past year, a series of police killings of African-Americans across the country has inspired grief, outrage, protest, and acrimonious debate. For many Americans, this discussion, though painful, has been essential. Wilson has tried, with some success, to block it out. This March, I spent several days at his home. The first time I pulled up to the curb, Wilson, who is six feet four and weighs two hundred and fifteen pounds, immediately stepped outside, wearing a hat and sunglasses. He had seen me arriving on security cameras that are synched to his phone...."
So begins a long New Yorker article by Jake Halpern.
August 3, 2015
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88 comments:
Interviews with enemy lefties don't keep you below the radar.
I note that the shooting of Michael Brown has been very openly investigated, and all factual evidence points to the conclusion that the shooting of Michael Brown was indeed justified.
If the protestors of police shootings can't find a better example to publicize their cause, and can't admit that some police shootings, like the shooting of Michael Brown, were completely justified, then I won't take their protests seriously and will write them off as a grievance racket like Jackson & Sharpton ran for decades and still run today.
Black likes matter.
If President Obama were an honorable man, he would make a statement on behalf of Darren Wilson, an innocent man whose life is following a Richard Jewell trajectory.
Black likes matter.
#BlackHolesSuckMatter
It's too bad there wasn't a tape. Lefties will not like what the tapes show.
It should be noted that George Zimmerman was recently shot at by a madman. He didn't receive a lot of sympathy in the press for his trauma. These men live in stressful conditions. If the stress takes its toll and they start acting flaky, the press will report on it. They will say that their behavior proves the theory that these men are morally flawed. Mostly though their behavior shows that the press are self righteous bullies who would hound a man to death just to advance their narrative.
"They will say that their behavior proves the theory that these men are morally flawed"
Everyone is morally flawed.
If you were Wilson, would you let a journalist from NY within a hundred yards of your house? Why not meet someplace public like the airport or a Starbucks?
The rule of the mob wins again.
Dude needs to sell that house and move to Texas. We'll welcome him.
"Why not meet someplace public like the airport or a Starbucks?"
-- Because then you have to go some place public like the airport or a Starbucks. Zimmerman went in public and has been the target of harassment. Face it: Darrel Wilson's ability to go out in public safely is forever lost. His life is ruined. Simply deciding to meet a guest at his house requires him to cover his face and pray no one who might decide to end him then and there notices.
The state of Missouri should calculate the amount of economic damage Brown had already done, would reasonably be expected to have done in his criminal career and the probably cost of his various arrests, trials and imprisonments and award Wilson have of that figure.
Mr Wilson can likely recapture some degree level of normality over time but it would require effort, likely a move out of state plus a name change. Public interviews are not a prudent part of that plan.
Because then you have to go some place public like the airport or a Starbucks. Zimmerman went in public and has been the target of harassment. Face it: Darrel Wilson's ability to go out in public safely is forever lost. His life is ruined. Simply deciding to meet a guest at his house requires him to cover his face and pray no one who might decide to end him then and there notices.
I don't buy that. The security of the house trumps everything, including his personal safety while away from it. Wilson has friends that are cops and ex-cops (I'm in STL and know people, county sheriffs, that know him). He can easily ask them to act as off-duty bodyguards for his own safety if the reporter wants to meet someplace public. Again, given the area, Lambert Field would be ideal for this.
The last thing the New Yorker should have is his actual address.
For whatever crazy reason he wants to stay in STL (as Zimmerman wants to stay in FLA). I'd hit the road. It's a big country, and they might find anonymity elsewhere, or, in Wilson's case, even a new career in law enforcement.
The last thing the New Yorker should have is his actual address.
Yeah, I would have recommended meeting at the home of another police officer. Non-public, but not revealing your home address.
"The image of Brown that many people have was shaped by the surveillance video from Ferguson Market and Liquor. In that footage, we see Brown take several packages of cigarillos, then head toward the door. A clerk tries to stop him, but Brown easily shoves him aside. Store employees later told federal investigators that Brown looked “crazy,” used profane language, and asked the clerk, menacingly, “What are you gonna do about it?”
Dorian Johnson told me that, before entering the market, he and Brown “never talked about stealing things.” Johnson claimed that they were instead immersed in a discussion “about the Bible and God—how you’re supposed to be as a human going through life.” After Brown stole the cigarillos and they left the store, they resumed this conversation."
Hey..Wilson does say some folks will crack you up. I mean...did Jon Stewart work this prime comedic material? SNL sketch writers?
Here's that clearing a path?
Is that Dorian on left paging through a bible?
I notice that Halpern left "unarmed" out of the standard formula.
For many Americans, this discussion, though painful, has been essential.
Jake Halpern needs to get out more.
With New Yorker articles, isn't "long" pretty much a given?
Baltimore has the right idea: let the Africans run wild, and use the cops to patrol the non-African valuable spaces.
"The last thing the New Yorker should have is his actual address."
Exactly. Wilson doesn't sound too smart. He really should move but he seems stuck in that hellhole.
From what I understand, George Zimmerman had moved out of Florida by the time of the incident with Mr. Apperson. He was in the state because he was visiting family and also he was seeing his doctor.
He really should move but he seems stuck in that hellhole.
Hey, now. It depends on where his new house is. Some areas along the upper walls of the crater are quite nice.
“A third of Foster’s students have a father in jail. Many of them believe, rightly or wrongly, that their father is innocent, and this inevitably shapes how young people in Ferguson view the police. “
This was a new (to me) insight how fatherless kids feel about their dads being in jail or shot by the cops. If you have a loved family member who has been incarcerated or killed then you are faced with having to either tell yourself that the system is unjust or telling yourself that your loved one probably deserves to be in jail. Kids with their unconditional love do not have the maturity (duh!) to resolve this conflict.
I like the little cartoons in the Yawkers sidebar. Clears the palate.
Jim,
Another element that occurs in that family dynamic is even if they believe they are guilty, they "didn't do it to me"...
So what of this? No one cares?
"McCulloch told KTRS host McGraw Milhaven that he will not pursue perjury charges. He said he thought it was more important for the grand jury to “hear everything” and assess each witnesses’ credibility on their own.
“But in the situation — again, because of the manner in which we did it — we’re not going to file perjury charges against anyone. There were people who came in and yes, absolutely lied under oath. Some lied to the FBI — even though they’re not under oath, that’s another potential offense, a federal offense.”
So..if you don't suppress peoeple's desire to tell their "story", that gives them license to lie? Oh..that's just brilliant..
I think it has less to do with wanting to let people tell their story so much as not wanting to have the city held hostage again.
Yes..one of those "greater good" calculations..
This was a case where several witnesses should have been indicted for perjury. Their lies caused rioting, arson and racial hatred.
Simply, those perjurers did not see the incident's final seconds, when Brown charged 17 yards at Wilson and tried to grab his gun again. Because they did not see what actually happened, they concocted a false story about Brown standing with his hands up and trying to surrender.
They told their lies on national television and then to the investigators and finally to the grand jury.
http://people-who-did-not-see.blogspot.com/2015/04/this-blog-provides-better-answer-to.html
Yes..so Wilson lives in hiding for seemingly doing his job..those folks suffer nothing. Update on Dorian's Bible studies
(recently arrested, he is suing the city of St. Louis for damages)
Speaking as a local, I would NOT like to see perjury charges against Dorian Johnson or the other witnesses. They have already been exposed as telling stories that are inconsistent with the truth, and have no credibility. But I also think that it is unfair to blame them for the riots. The people who looted were not good citizens who had been pushed too far by an unjust system, instead they are criminals who used the protests as an excuse to run wild and steal things. The responsibility for their crimes is their own. I would not accept any excuse from these arsonists that they had been lied to about what happened.
Darren Wilson's life doesn't matter; it's as simple as that.
If you want to be very generous you could say Darren Wilson's life (and, you know, the truth) doesn't matter as much as the Media's narrative (and the Left's, but I repeat myself) matters.
"In Reverend Wilson’s view, the moment when Darren Wilson first spoke with Michael Brown was enormously consequential. “It frames the engagement and it sets a tone for the relationship,” he told me. But this moment couldn’t be isolated from all the mistakes that came before it."
Right...like the robbing and assaulting a shop owner? Oh...I'm sure after returning to the briefly interrupted Bible study (so engrossed they drifted off sidewalk), the two "boys" would have been receptive to small talk...
Jim et al.: I understand your points about the problems prosecuting witnesses for perjury but (especially as it pertains to lying to the FBI) that position is in danger of creating a dangerous double standard and/or hurting the concept of the rule of law.
High profile people have been convicted of lying to the FBI for being slightly untruthful/less than forthcoming on fairly trivial matters unrelated to the core investigation and/or that did not harm the investigation in any way--witness Martha Stewart or Scooter Libby's convictions. If the rule is, for the FBI at least, "never lie to the Feds in any way, no matter how small, or they will prosecute" then, while harsh, you at least have a standard that can be applied fairly across the board and can have the influence you want (compelling fully truthful testimony when given). To let some people off (when their lies caused or helped cause real damage) and throw the book at others (when their lies caused no actual harm) makes the justice system look a little unfair, you know?
I think it has less to do with wanting to let people tell their story so much as not wanting to have the city held hostage again.
What, of value, remains there to destroy?
"Speaking as a local, I would NOT like to see perjury charges against Dorian Johnson or the other witnesses."
Ah..so screw the laws. Good luck with that..
But I also think that it is unfair to blame them for the riots.
I wouldn't blame him for the riots. I would blame him for the false meme of "hands up don't shoot", pretending Brown was innocent of attacking Wilson, and creating an entirely false story to gin up social outrage. We must give him credit for being smart enough to know what he was doing.
From the New Yorker article: "Legitimate questions linger about the shooting. If Brown was unprovoked, why did he reach into the police car and punch Wilson in the face? Why did Wilson fire ten shots? A young activist in Ferguson, Clifton Kinnie, said, “The story doesn’t make sense. Black youth don’t fight police—we run.” "
The "young activist" Clifton Kinnie is a senior at Lutheran North High School. And perhaps he does believe that "Black youth don’t fight police—we run" is an accurate generalization.
Yet neither he nor the author present any evidence at all to support this assertion, let alone explore the actually existing evidence that Michael Brown obviously did not run from the confrontation that ended his life.
On one hand there's plenty of real evidence that Brown did not run, and on the other there's an evidence-free assertion by a "young activist."
Are readers are supposed to take this "journalism" seriously?
Look at what's happening in Baltimore. They've called in Federal agencies to work with their local police force.
What is going on in Baltimore is a political problem- a mayor and prosecutor who don't support the police. Remember how we held Rudy responsibility for every thing his police force did? But no, for some reason, we have to pretend the solution in Baltimore is unknowable.
The city..logic and understood concepts of law are all being held hostage.
So nice of them to out him and tell people where to find him.
There is another security video of Michael Brown in the same shop at 1:30 in the morning before the shooting, and Dorian Johnson tetified he got up early and met Brown around 7 AM and stayed with him after that.
So it seems likely Michael Brown had been on his feet for 30 hours or more when he got shot.
This is not normal behavior for a teenager.
I think he was high on something, whatever it is these kids concoct these days, and that accounts for his aggressive behavior.
Well...Brown Sr. DID say strong-arming a store was "out of character". They must have been hopped up on Old Testament..
"We must give him credit for being smart enough to know what he was doing."
Dorian would have been too stoned to come up with some kind of a plot that quick.
Actually the gossip mill has it that Anthony Shalid (our local version of Al Sharpton) is the real author of “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” and that he was feeding lines to Dorian what to tell the media, and at the same time was calling in his contacts in the local media telling them the cops had just shot Brown in the back.
Shahid:
"Brother Anthony Shahid is an Activist, Agitator and Servant of Allah. He's well known around the world for dramatically and fearlessly fighting for justice"
…”[A] danger of creating a dangerous double standard and/or hurting the concept of the rule of law.”
Yeah your right, but double standards are all over the place. Everyone in town is expecting trouble as we come up on the one-year date. Let’s let these small fry escape the net of justice.
Yes, Dorian lied and yes, the others followed suit. But I see very little value to the concept of the rule of law in trying to get convictions of these folks (who may have been coached anyway).
If you want a villain for this movie- try the media (Chris Hayes seeing dead bodies in the street for example)
"Johnson testified he got up early and met Brown around 7 AM and stayed with him after that."
Dorian also said that his girlfriend asked him to go get breakfast for her and the baby cause they had nothing in the house. Did Dorian ever do that? What were Dorian and Brown doing all morning from 7am to noon? Yes, I know they were getting high- but really? for 5 hours straight they smoked weed?
5 hours straight they smoked weed?
If that is true then I'm not surprised by the bible discussion. You can rap about all kinds of groovy things when your stoned.
You can also do stupid st*t like rob the market or try and take a cop's gun.
Wilson should write a book or start a blog if has a strong desire to get his story out not facilitate media SJWs.
Dorian Johnson told me that, before entering the market, he and Brown “never talked about stealing things.” Johnson claimed that they were instead immersed in a discussion “about the Bible and God—how you’re supposed to be as a human going through life.” After Brown stole the cigarillos and they left the store, they resumed this conversation."
Even if this was true (hint sooper dooper New Yorker reporter, criminals often lie) its not even exculpatory. If anything, it spins their actions in a worse light. Your having a discussion about right and wrong while casually committing a strong-arm robbery? Which you don't discuss, its just something you do!
If Brown was unprovoked, why did he reach into the police car and punch Wilson in the face?
Uh, maybe because he didn't want to be arrested, so he decided that he would resist arrest?
Why did Wilson fire ten shots?
Because Wilson was 6'8" tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds? Maybe?
Unlike in the movies and TV, in real life bullets are subject to the laws of physics, cops are not all expert sharp shooters in real life and death situations, and human bodies are far more resilient to damage than most people assume.
I think it just might be a mistake to think anything Dorian has said is true. And it's a mistake to think that letting the "small fry" make a mockery of the justice system is going to prevent anything. How about following the laws and letting the chips fall instead of flirting with Stockholm Syndrome. Like it or not..it's bigger than your town.
Dorian is let go then and is arrested a few weeks ago..and suing the city for emotional trauma. Cops largely giving up on enforcing the laws. That's what leniency gets ya.
"Dude needs to sell that house and move to Texas. We'll welcome him."
He could move to Austin, that great liberal bastion. Thanks to gentrification, blacks are a small minority. It's also the most economically segregated city in the country.
"Hands Up, Don't Shoot!"
All of these cases, starting with George Zimmerman, leading to Baltimore, are quite different. This one is the most straight forward of the list of events, yet caused the greatest protest response.
The office did nothing wrong.
"But in the situation — again, because of the manner in which we did it — we’re not going to file perjury charges against anyone. There were people who came in and yes, absolutely lied under oath. Some lied to the FBI — even though they’re not under oath, that’s another potential offense, a federal offense.”
This federal offense is generally reserved for Republicans, like Scooter Libby, who are expected to be truthful even during a chickenshit investigation like Wilson/Plume. Lying by some folks in the 'hood during a homIcide investigation is SOP.
Wasn't Freeman Bosley, the local sharpton figure over there,
Darren Wilson kind of looks like Graham Chapman.
"If Brown was unprovoked, why did he reach into the police car and punch Wilson in the face?
Uh, maybe because he didn't want to be arrested, so he decided that he would resist arrest?"
"Provoked" or not, there's no excuse to reach into a police car and strike a policeman. No matter what the policeman says to you, he has no way of knowing how armed or dangerous you are, and will assume the worst--and you will be lucky not to get killed in that situation. The only reason I can think of to justify ever striking a cop is if he's beating you up and you're striking back in self defense. I don't see how Wilson was beating a guy who was outside of his car while Wilson was sitting down in it.
"Why did Wilson fire ten shots?
Because Wilson was 6'8" tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds? Maybe?"
Not just that, but cops will continue shooting at a target until they are certain it is no longer a threat. Bodies don't often go completely still at the first hit--and often a "down" target can still reach for a weapon.
Cops often do the wrong thing and unnecessarily kill people as a result--but this was simply not such a case.
I would fully expect the author of the article will find a way to let slip out the location of Wilson's house, and with full deniability.
Freeman Bosley Senior is a loooooong time alderman for the city. Give him his patronage jobs and his cut of the city parks money and streets money and he is OK. Typical dem run city politician.
His son Freeman Bosley Jr. was city courts clerk, then later became the city's first AA mayor. Yeah he was corrupt, but this is St Louis Democrat politics- Everyone is corrupt. Anyhoo- Jr, has been suspended by state bar, not dis-barred, just suspended, His crime is 'getting caught'. And Jr's law firm is the one that is representing Dorian Johnson. And Jr was the one that got Dorian a summer job with the city.
Looks like Dorian's in the St. Louis leadership track.. I'm starting to wonder if the "burn it down" crew had a point.
Wilson wasn't 6' 8''. He was 6' 4'', the same as Brown.
If Brown was unprovoked, why did he reach into the police car and punch Wilson in the face?
Brown had been kicked out of his home by his mother, so he went to live with his grandmother, who kicked him out.
For the last two weeks, he had been sleeping on the couch of his best friend's sister. It's likely that she too intended to kick him out soon.
Living in jail for a while was his best option.
Mike Sylwester said...
Living in jail for a while was his best option.
That might make sense, if he assaulted the officer, then immediately surrendered. However, running away then charging back don't fit with wanting to go to jail.
If Brown was unprovoked, why did he reach into the police car and punch Wilson in the face?
A typically stupid question from a person who knows no criminals or crazy people. PLENTY of people in jail for assaulting cops and doing other stupid, non-reasonable shit for which the reporter would find no explanation .
Wilson wasn't 6' 8''. He was 6' 4'', the same as Brown.
Which is still pretty big.
A little shorter sitting down...
Not one mention in the New Yorker article of the massive amount of active marijuana found in Michael Brown's system in the autopsy. Asking questions like, "Why would Michael Brown do such a thing?"
Because he was high as a kite, paranoid and anxious like marijuana will to do you.
Yeah..thanks for deleting that racist POS, Coupe.
The only autopsy report I have seen was released by the brown family lawyer and showed no controlled substances in his system. I was always suspicious of that, considering Brown's behavior and the source of the information, but never heard of an official report being released.
Can you cite that?
The autopsy report from the Brown family was the one done by an unaccredited and untrained imposter who had made a bit of a name for himself faking reports.
Parcells became an overnight media star in August when he assisted in an autopsy commissioned by Brown's family. He appeared time and again on major media outlets as a forensic pathology expert. He said over the years he's testified in court dozens of times in several states.
But an investigation by CNN that included interviews with attorneys, law enforcement and physicians suggests Parcells isn't the expert he seems to be.
Mike Sylwester said...
This was a case where several witnesses should have been indicted for perjury. Their lies caused rioting, arson and racial hatred.
No, they didn't cause the rioting and the arson, but they were part of the conspiracy.
Similarly, since the grand jury testimony was secret, they couldn't have, by their testimony alone, caused racial hatred and animosity, but again were members of a conspiracy.
luagha said...
Asking questions like, "Why would Michael Brown do such a thing?"
Because he was high as a kite, paranoid and anxious like marijuana will to do you.
Reefer madness?
It's easier to believe he was taking testosterone, and/or was egged on, and.or thought he could steal the policeman's gun and sell it, or had committed a big crime which nobody knows about.
Mike Sylwester said...8/3/15, 2:55 PM
Brown had been kicked out of his home by his mother, so he went to live with his grandmother, who kicked him out.
For the last two weeks, he had been sleeping on the couch of his best friend's sister. It's likely that she too intended to kick him out soon. Well, likely would if he was arrested.
I know they prevented news coverage of the real Michael Brown, but this is totally new to me (that he's been kicked out of both his moher and grandmother's home)
Can you give any links?
Geez you people, google 'Michael Brown Autopsy Toxicology'.
"Delta-9-THC = 12 ng/ml in blood.
11-Nor-Delta-9-THC-COOH = 45 ng/ml in blood.
Comments: Delta-9-THC detection in the blood defines impairment."
Delta-9-THC is the active metabolite. The active marijuana metabolite has a radically different usage pattern in the blood than does alcohol and its effects are not well studied. In most states, including Missouri, Michael Brown would not be able to legally drive with a blood test like that.
Actually, for a police officer, Wilson did a pretty good job. It appears that over half Wilson's sots hit Brown. That is far higher as a percentage than seen in many police shootings. It appears also that he was shooting in 2-3 round bursts, then stopping and reassessing Brown's reaction to such, who would apparently stop, shake it off, and keep coming. Wilson also appeared to be tightening up his accuracy as Brown's attack continued - first shots to the right arm, then trunk, and finally the two head shots, the last of which appearing to have been made as Brown was toppling to the ground with the 2nd to last (head) shot. I was interested to note that Wilson was shooting .40 S&W, instead of the more common 9 MM (or even lighter ammo). We are talking maybe 185 grain, instead of maybe 115 grain ammo there, and, yet, Brown kept coming. Why did Wilson keep shooting? Because Brown kept advancing on him, despite all the shots he received. This isn't really that much conjecture either, since Brown's blood trail show him advancing, and Wilson's trail of spent shells show him retreating, with the later blood essentially over the earlier shells.
Something that seems to have been missed here is that Johnson seems to have been the one who started the Hands Up, Don't Shoot story. Why would he lie? Maybe because he was a bit older, and was susceptable/vulnerable to a felony murder charge for the death of Brown. Interestingly to me, one of the big places that Wilson's and Johnson's stories agree is that Brown at some point in his attack on Wilson in his vehicle handed the stolen cigarillos to Johnson. This freed up Brown's second hand, which he used on Brown, probably making Johnson an accomplice to the crimes of (2nd degree) assault on a police officer and/or attempted murder, and Brown died a couple minutes later attempting to flee from being arrested for those violent felonies. And, yet, Johnson was never arrested for even participating in the strong armed robbery that started this whole series of events off.
Sammy - I don't find the stealing the cop's gun to sell it to be that credible. That would arguably be attempted murder on Bown's part. This is part of Wilson's legal justification for using deadly force a couple minutes later, when Brown started to advance on Wilson again. Both the punching of Wilson and the attempt to grab his gun constitute serious violent felonies, legally justifying the use of lethal force to prevent Brown from escaping (if Wilson had shot Brown in the back, etc - but as things played out, self-defense was apparently a sufficient legal defense here for Wilson). Going backwards, the strong armed robbery that started this off was probably not bad enough to justify the use of deadly force to arrest Brown, but trying to steal Wilson's gun probably was.
Of course, that implies rational thought on the part of Brown. The level of pot in his blood suggests that he was too stoned to think rationally. That would maybe explain the idiocy of thinking he could punch a cop, then steal his gun, and get away with it.
Wilson should have never given the reporter any idea of where he currently resides. The reporter has provided enough descriptive info to narrow down a search for anyone interested in outing Wilson's location.
Wilson has been an early sacrifice to the shrine of "Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage."
Talking about young blacks choosing a bad culture sounds like racial code language to Halpern?
Wilson's proper response to that should have been: "Well, you think that because you're ignorant and racist. You think that culture doesn't exist among white kids, Hispanic kids, Asian kids, Arab kids? Because it does. You just didn't know that because you're ignorant and thought it applied only to black kids because you, Halpern, are the racist here."
I can't believe that with everything that transpired..an anniversary approaching..a civil suit still ongoing..he agreed to an interview.
"Johnson was never arrested for even participating in the strong armed robbery that started this whole series of events off."
Apparently went on to a city job..until he was arrested for something else. But you know..he's just a "small fry"...and there's order to be upheld.
And amazingly, Johnson is in no apparent fear for his life, nor even of going to jail.
Might get some $$ from his lawsuit.
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