this whole situation has nothing to do with him shoplifting. the chief of ferg police already released that the cop was not even aware of the shoplifting incident.
I already touched on that point. It doesn't matter if the officer knew MB was a suspect or not. My point was that it's possible that Brown's state of mind (and thus his actions) were influenced by the fact that he literally just committed a crime and was being confronted by law enforcement.
Sure the cop didn't know about the store robbery, but did MB know that? I doubt it.
that video shows an 18 y/old kid trying to be cool. nothing more. kids all over the place make bad decisions like this all the time.
Why is it only possible for him to "try and act cool" in front of his friends by shop lifting and intimidating the shop keeper? Could one not also use that same logic to assume that he might have disobeyed the police to "act cool" in front of his friend as well? I mean, kids all over the place make bad decisions all the time. Right?
They called it a "strong arm robbery"... please.
That's exactly what it was. Case in point, my brother had two unarmed but very large guys come up to him after a Chargers football game and demanded his iphone and wallet. He gave it up without incident (hell, they didn't even push him), and reported to the cops right after. Wanna guess what went on the police report as the type of crime? Yup. Strong arm robbery.
They found the iPhone in a dumpster using gps, but never found the guys or his wallet. I can tell you though, that my brother is all of about 135 lbs and he was scared shitless when it happened. But maybe the two dudes were just trying to act cool? I'm sure knowing that would make him feel better about the situation.
again it comes back to the eyewitness video for me. he was grabbed through the window of the car with the cop yelling i will shoot you. a shot is fired, MB struggles to get away from the car (his hands never reached for the cops gun), he gets away, turns and runs, the cop gets out and chases after him shooting, first shot hits MB, MBs body jerks from being hit, MB turns around with his hands in the air saying "dont shoot", the cop continues to fire anywhere from 5-7 more shots into MB and he falls to the ground dead. that is what happened and that is what we must focus on.
If I were in your place, I would probably wait for all the evidence before jumping to such conclusions. It's basically impossible to take a handful of reports and say for sure "that is what happened". Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Who's to say those "eye witness accounts" are 100% factual or even truthful? No one here can say that for sure.
My point is that it's impossible for me (and thus basically anyone else not intimately involved in this case) to know "that's what happened" simply based off of some news interviews and gut feeling.
the rioting and looting is a result of being shit on by police/white people for so long. it builds up and erupts. its horrible for sure, but w/out being in those shoes i cannot tell you how i would conduct myself.
I can tell you that my first thought wouldn't be "Hey, let's break into that store, steal cigarettes then burn it down!"
Having protests and taking to the streets is one thing (something that i support and encourage), but when you start looting and burning innocent people's livelihoods, you lose any sort of sympathies on my part.
