Do you support Officer Darren Wilson?

I have mixed feelings about this situation we have here in Ferguson.

This is going to end well...

I don't know enough about the situation. but I don't think terroizing their area would help anything.

Depends on the context....I'm far to lazy to read into the case (I've only heard bits and pieces), so I'm just going to go with that as my post so I won't be speaking out of ignorance.

Who is he? What did he do? Why did he do it? Teach me how to dougie?

I have mixed feelings about the situation.

Indeed, friend.

We already have like 3 Ferguson threads. Ask in there.

No. I don't know enough tbh.

Beata

No. I don't support him.

I don't know. The media says Brown attacked him, but they easily could've made that up.

I believe in waiting for evidence to emerge before judging who's in the right and who's in the wrong.

Seriously? The media has been insisting that Brown was completely innocent and shot dead in cold blood and all sorts of stuff since day one. Then the Ferguson police released a video of Brown assaulting a shopkeeper and stealing cigarettes right before he was shot and the media still searched for ways to spin it into a "innocent kid gunned down by racist cop" narrative even though there wasn't a single indicator anywhere in the cop's past that he was racist. They even dug around in his family's past and brought up some fraud case his mother was involved in years ago, as if that had any relevance to him or the shooting. Their conduct has been disgraceful.

Nope.

Unless something has changed that I missed, we have a story out that Officer Darren Wilson that Brown punched him and struggled over the gun. When the officer attempted to pursue, then Brown charged the officer and Wilson shot and killed him. This story has been corroborated by many witnesses, but there are conflicting stories as well.

If this story is true, then of course I support him. Why would anyone oppose him?

If it's not true, then it depends on what the truth is.

It's still to early to make definitive judgments on this unless I've missed a bunch of news on the subject.

Can I see said video?

And the media is more than outlet. I've read a lot of news articles saying that he wasn't innocent.

Either way shooting someone 6-10 times at point blank rage is clearly a sign of hatred, when looking at the circumstances.

At the end of the day this ain't a black or white thing, or a criminal or innocent, at the end of the day a kid was still murdered in cold blood. Just because he assaulted a shopkeeper and stole some cigarettes doesn't mean he deserved to die the way he did.

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/brown-family-appalled-release-surveillance-video-attorney-25013581

Start from 5:00 till 5:20.

Might have been a sign of self-preservation more than hatred considering the cop was taken to the hospital for injuries to his face after the encounter. If he was attacked by a guy much bigger than he was, under the circumstances, how much hatred do you think was at play?

If the evidence over the days to come reveals that he attacked the cop and caused those injuries, then he absolutely had it coming.

I am going to talk about what the event that I know about the case and my interpretation.

Events I Know So Far: 1. The Officer told the individual to freeze. 2. Brown taunts the officer. 3. He then "bum rushes" the officer. 4. The officer proceeds to shoot him 6 times. 5. According to video, Brown never reached for the gun.

My Interpretation: In law enforcement, there is something called "Continuum Of Force"(?) There are 4 levels (from most least amount of danger to most): 1. Verbal De-escallation 2. Hand to hand fighting 3. Non-leathal weapons (tasers/pepper spray) 4. Lethal Force.

The Officer went straight to lethal force when, at most, the situation warranted the use of a taser or pepper spray. Even if he was reaching for the gun, it is law enforcement 101 on how to protect your gun and to fight off an attacker non-lethally. This is why officers go to a state academy before donning the badge. The "Continuum of Force" is the bread and butter of police training. There is no indication that this guy was a lethal threat, regardless of whether or not he was "innocent".

So, I cannot support the Officer in this one.

Oh thank god, I was scared we were going to run out of controversy on these boards.

I'm just gonna try and ignore it, my opinion is of no consequence or gain on either side of the argument.

I wasn't there so I can't say. What I will say is that there are 3 sides to every story.

IMHO, I have trained with Police Officers in Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. In fact the place where I used to train had special classes for Law Enforcement Officers. I have to commend these Officers for taking time out to train in ways to use force to restrain, but not serious harm an individual, even people larger than them.

If Officers had more training in verbal deescalation and H2H, I think the number of brutalities would go down. Even so, in most states, Police will have a baton, taser, OC Spray (usually one that is lower intensity and one that is a lot hotter than what your average civilian carries around), a stun gun, knife (sometimes), rubber bullet gun (sometimes). This is all in addition to a pistol. These non-lethals are highly effective at stoping even the largest opponents.

Here is a taser demonstration video of taser (the guy who is being tased is pretty large): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfKWVrXKbn0

So, with all that at his disposal he still decides to draw his weapon?

@jnr6lil: "At the end of the day this ain't a black or white thing, or a criminal or innocent, at the end of the day a kid was still murdered in cold blood. Just because he assaulted a shopkeeper and stole some cigarettes doesn't mean he deserved to die the way he did."

It's said he attacked the officer too, so since the officer was defending himself and trying to survive when someone much larger than him was attacking him, verbally assaulting him, and reaching for his gun it's considered shooting a kid in cold blood? C'mon.

@saren: Saw the video. Just going to leave that scene out of the shooting situation as that had nothing to do with the actual shooting, Maybe the incident but not the shooting. If he attacked him to a point where he had to use deadly force maybe it was justified but I highly doubt that.

At the end of the day even if Mike Brown did attack the officer this doesn't change there's still police brutality. Maybe people need to go back and re watch their civil rights documentaries where cops would beat you to near death and/or rape a women just for walking down the street.

I agree. Cop or not, you attack me and I can't say what i'll do to you.

@legacy6364: *high fives*

I don't know about the continuum of force, but I know police officers are trained to draw their weapon if threatened. I've also heard several police officers from different departments say this guy did the right thing if the story we are getting is true.

Regarding what level of force is appropriate, there are several things you overlooked. (assuming the story the cops are saying is true) 1. Brown punched the officer which means he had an intent to harm. 2. He struggled for possession of a gun which he presumably would use on the officer which is a likely intent to kill. 3. If someone attempts to hurt you for no legitimate reason, you have no reason to expect them to stop an mere injury instead of murder. 4. If someone can beat you down, they can then kill you. 5. Not having a weapon visible is not the same as not having a weapon period. The officer had no reason to think the man was unarmed. 6. Police are taught to go for their gun if they are threatened and even if the officer wanted to use non-lethal force, he would have had his gun in his hand by training and would not have the time to switch on a less fatal weapon. 7. Tasers sometimes fail either through technical error or by bad aim. If the officer missed, Brown would have been upon him and the officer's life would have been in severe danger. 8. Officers are trained to shoot at the center of mass until the target is down. It often takes multiple shots to bring a large man down.

If the police's version of events is true, I have no sympathy for Brown. He attacked two innocent men and earned his just reward. If it's not true, then this conversation is irrelevant.

Ask any of your cop friends what they do when they feel imminently threatened. I doubt a single one will say that they reach for anything other than a gun. The non-lethal weapons are a great tool in the arsenal, but they are, to my knowledge, never deployed when a life is in immediate danger. If there are multiple officers dealing with an unarmed suspect, maybe. If there is a suspect trying to run away, sure. Someone drunk or disorderly who is not complying to demands, yes, but when they feel threatened, they are trained to go for their gun.

He did his job.

It was said he attacked the officer. There's been no video of it though. Nor does defending yourself equal to letting out the full clip execution style.

No.

But there is a video of Brown assaulting a shopkeeper and stealing cigarettes right before he was shot. But I guess that doesn't matter.

Boy oh boy. This is gon be good.

@legacy6364: Exactly it doesn't matter. People are using that slight shove to the shopkeeper and shoplifting as justification for why he was killed when that had nothing to do with the incident that happened outside.

I guess the officer should have used nice words. Give me a break.

@jnr6lil: They won't need video if they find burns on Brown's skin from the gun meaning he was in contact with the officer.

The man has never shot anyone before, let alone a teen. If you've ever been on an adrenaline rush because someone is attacking you, you're fighting for your life, you wouldn't stop shooting after one shot.

Don't give me that execution style bullsh!t. The kid wasn't kneeling on the ground, begging for mercy, and the cop shoots him in the head. They were fighting. The cop was able to pull out his gun and shoot him. The fact you can even compare it to being execution style is mind blowing. Just stop.

So let me get this straight. If you hit a cop you're a badass rebellious hero. But when he fights back it's police brutality.

no I don't. 6 shots on someone far enough to not have gunpowder on them seems excessive.

@legacy6364: You got it.

And if its a white cop shooting a black person, its automatically a hate crime. No exception.

And apparently robbing a store, assaulting a shop keeper, and attacking a police officer makes you a hero.

@kasino: We don't know if there was/wasn't any gun powder on him.... Don't know where you got that idea from.

I support booty.

The report I heard said Brown was thirty-five feet away. That may sound like a lot, but walk off 35 feet and run it. If it takes you more than three seconds, you have a severe need of exercise. Point being, the officer had less than three seconds to avoid being pounded into the ground.

The entirety of the discussion in this thread really just consists of people making objective statements on facts that haven't been confirmed and with much more to be known about this case. Kind of silly to be honest.

Only thing I have to say.

@wolverine08: At least one side admits they aren't proven facts yet.

Is people being ignorant really a surprise?

@The_Deathstroker: Both sides in this thread (Both those who support Brown and those who do not) are both jumping the gun hilariously early and neither side looks better than the other frankly.

Fair enough.

@legacy6364: It's all good.

@jnr6lil: That shove showed what kind of mentality this punk had. "I'm bigger and badder than you. I can take this by force." You think the shooting and robbery were unrelated? You think this punk wasn't on edge with a cop approaching him after robbing a store?