Officer who fatally shot Mike Brown’s account made public for first time
Officer Darren Wilson, the man who fatally wounded an 18-year-old black teen in Ferguson, Mo., said the teen punched him, then reached for his sidearm.
The Aug. 9 shooting sparked widespread and ongoing protests in and around Ferguson, Mo. More than 250 people have been arrested on charges ranging from burglary to refusing to dispersing by police order.
The account to the [New York] Times is the first to be made public offering Wilson’s perspective of the events of Aug. 9. It recounts Wilson’s escalating fear as he alleges that Brown punched and scratched him, then grabbed for his gun. Forensics show that the gun was fired twice inside the car, striking Brown once in the arm.
Wilson had engaged Brown and a friend for walking in the middle of the road, and then may have connected Brown to a recent strong-arm robbery after spotting a box of cigars in his hand.
The new account, however, “does not explain why, after he emerged from his vehicle, he fired at Mr. Brown multiple times,” write Michael Schmidt, Matt Apuzzo, and Julie Bosman, in the Times. “It contradicts some witness accounts, and it will not calm those who have been demanding to know why an unarmed man was shot a total of six times.”
Witnesses have said Brown was shot after putting his hands up in surrender. Others claim Brown was moving toward the officer when he was killed.
The Department of Justice and St. Louis County police have both launched investigations into the case.
So far, Wilson has not been charged.
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