I know it’s terrible to hear, but I would put absolutely no stock in any eyewitness reports about the Michael Brown shooting – either by bystanders (friendly or otherwise) or Darren Wilson himself.
I know supporters of both sides will crucify me for this, but eyewitness testimony is utterly unreliable, and not because people are lying.
Did Michael Brown have his hands up? Was he turned away from the cop or towards the cop? What did he actually do?
Without video, we don’t know. We’ll never know. No matter how many eyewitnesses you think you have, it doesn’t matter.
In reality, eyewitness testimony is about as reliable as what your cat thinks about quantum mechanics. I would put more stock in astrology than in eyewitness testimony, especially since evidence shows the more traumatic the event or unexpected, the less accurate the memory.
I agree and will not that if you share this opinion with others (or even hint at it) then you need to brace yourself for some pretty strong allegations regarding your character…….
Without video, we don’t know. We’ll never know.
We won’t know because the evidence chain has been fucked to hell, not because a body or a dash cam or a smartphone or a closed circuit security camera wasn’t recording at the exact minute the shooting went down. And it is possible to re frame events on a
video and have a sympathetic jury come up with reasonable doubt.
Now I ask you, who is responsible for collecting evidence and investigating when someone has been killed?