Summary of Ferguson Officials Arent Telling You What Happened to Mike

Brown
On August 9th, 2014, eighteen year old Mike Brown was shot 6 times and killed
by a police officer named Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. It is widely believed that
the police have gone to great lengths in order to mask the transgressions of Officer
Darren Wilson. Many eyewitnesses have come forward stating that Wilsons version of
what happenedthat Brown had attempted to barge into Wilsons police vehicle and
take his gun is simply a fabrication in order to protect the officer. All current
eyewitnesses have stated that Brown had his hands up and was kneeling on the ground
at the time of his death; autopsy would later reveal that Brown was indeed killed
execution style and that his wounds were inconsistent of someone who, according to
Wilson, was standing and attempting to grab the officers gun. It should be noted that
Officer Wilson is white while the victim himself was a black.
This racial discrimination has sparked anger within the community of Ferguson
who, for the most part, believe that Wilson is simply an authority figure fulfilling an action
one associates with the zeitgeist of the 1960s: a racially driven murder of a black boy by
a white man. This comes in the wake of the murder of teen Trayvon Martin and the
acquittal of his alleged murderer George Zimmerman. This, coupled with the constant
avoidance and over-militarization of the police force in Ferguson has led to a large rift
between the community and their so-called law men.
The writers of this article also make a point to show huge discrepancies between
what the police department of Ferguson have claimed, what the the law obliges officers
to do, and what was actually done in the situation of Mike Brown. By law, officers are
required to submit a report to their superiors whenever force was used by an officer
during their patrol. In the case of Mike Brown, no such report was ever written or filed.
This report is meant to be used as the first tool in determining whether or not an officers
decision to use force on a civilian was compliant with police policy. It is also used in
order to assess whether or not an officer may become prone to violence and therefore
unfit to serve in the force. This assessment could not be made in the case of Darren
Wilson.
When requesting a report of the events that conspired on that day in August,
VICE reporters were told they would need to first pay a $2000 deposit, but were not told
exactly what the fee covered nor why it was so hefty. They were also told there was a
possibility they may still be denied the permission to see the documents, even after
having payed the deposit amount. The Department of Justice made it very clear that the
price being demanded by the Ferguson Police Department was unnecessarily high, only
further the mistrust of the department by the people. VICE was ultimately denied the
possibility of viewing the records and were not told why.
Despite their reluctance to relinquish their grasp on records, the police were
quick to release a video allegedly legitimizing Darren Wilsons use of force on Mike
Brown. The video, a grainy convenience store security film, supposedly showed Brown
robbing a total of five dollars worth of items from the store. It was later revealed, after

much backlash from the community, that Darren Wilson was unaware of the robbery
incident at the time of Browns shooting and therefore the video gave no justification for
his actions.
Protestors have taken to the streets in Ferguson in order to show their immense
displeasure in their police force. Chants such as Hands up, dont shoot! and Protect
and serve; thats a lie. You dont care when black kids die are commonplace, but the
sight of police dressed in full riot gear wielding tear gas is just as frequent. There is little
doubt that, until the situation is settled once and for all, neither side will compromise
their stance on the situation for the other.