In Darren Wilson’s testimony on the fatal Michael Brown shooting back in September, which he gave to grand jury members and investigators in secret at the time, he claims that he shot Brown in “self-defense,” and out of “fear for his life.”
The New York Times reported yesterday the first official account of the Michael Brown shooting from officer Darren Wilson’s point of view, which has apparently leaked from those secret meetings back in September.
Even though, at the time, officials were surprised that Wilson testified, due to the fact it is not customary to do so in such a case, grand jury members and investigators were able to get a good insight into the officer’s state of mind at the time when he saw fit to shoot Michael Brown.
According to Wilson, he stopped Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson as they walked on the street. As he got out of his vehicle to speak to the pair, he said he was attacked, pushed back into his police car, and scratched in the face by Brown, who attempted to grab his gun.
In Wilson’s account, he claims that, due to the fact he felt his life was in danger, he shot twice while still inside his vehicle, with one bullet hitting Brown in the arm while the other missed.
The question still remains though, “Why was Brown shot a number more times after he fled from Wilson, even though he didn’t produce a weapon?”
It is true that a lot of Wilson’s testimony rings true, as compared with FBI evidence and eyewitness accounts of the shooting, but there are also a number of things that don’t quite add up.
The party line for the police all along has been that Wilson was brutally attacked by Brown, and to that end, Wilson has never had any previous disciplinary problems or records of public complaints in his file.
According to Michael Brown’s family attorney, Benjamin Crump, Darren Wilson should be arrested immediately. Criminal proceedings should then play out in court.
As Crump told reporters, “What the police say is not to be taken as gospel. He can say what he wants to say in front of a jury. They can listen to all the evidence and the people can have it transparent so they know that the system works for everybody.”
It won’t be until the first week of January that the grand jury makes a decision on the indictment against Darren Wilson . According to the law, nine of 12 votes will be needed in order to convict Darren Wilson of any crime.