Michael Brown incident report made public, police took 10 days to review it
Nearly two weeks after the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, officials have now made the police report on the incident public.
They took ten days to review and approve the document, which doesn’t contain many details.
…the glaring lack of detail is likely to increase widespread criticism that the law-enforcement community is closing ranks around Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot Brown on Aug. 9.
The incident report, filed by the St. Louis County police department, contains no new information on the encounter between Brown and Wilson. There are no written details about the event. As a result, the officer’s account of what transpired when the two men met just after noon on Aug. 9 remains a mystery.
And it will be for some time, according to Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the St. Louis County police department. Schellman told TIME that the department does not intend to release the “investigative” component of the incident report, the part that details Wilson’s version of events.
Schellman said that under the Missouri State “Sunshine” Law, the department was not required to release the information during a pending investigation. As a result, Wilson’s account of what happens will remain confidential unless it is presented by a prosecutor, Schellman said.
“We will not release it,” said Schellman, who noted that this is the county’s normal procedure. “This isn’t any different than a typical larceny from a local convenience store.”
According to the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office, Wilson never filed a report on the incident. At the request of local police, the case was quickly handed over to the county.
According to the document, the St. Louis Couty police entered the incident report on Aug. 19, 10 days after the shooting. It was approved and released the following day.
It is unclear what took the department so long to release the report, considering the lack of information contained in the document.
We must continue to fight for and demand justice for Michael Brown.
Black lives matter.
Click here to read the full report.
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