• U.S.

Ferguson Cops Tell Their Side of the Story

7 minute read

Updated at 5:30 p.m. ET

When the Ferguson, Mo. police released on Friday the name of the officer who shot Michael Brown to death six days earlier, they may have hoped to defuse the tensions that have exploded into violence in this St. Louis suburb. Instead, they appear to have fostered more suspicion and confusion.

At the same time that the local officials bowed to protesters’ demands to identify the officer, they also released new details about an alleged robbery at a convenience store in which Brown was identified as a suspect. But the account of the events that allegedly preceded the fatal confrontation included no new information on the shooting itself, which took place some ten minutes after the robbery. Indeed, hours later, the Ferguson police themselves said the robbery had nothing to do with the confrontation between Brown and the officer.

As a result, the documents threaten to undo recent progress in law enforcement’s relationship with the community they serve.

After resisting for several days, Thomas Jackson, the Ferguson police chief, identified Darren Wilson, a six-year veteran of the force, as the officer who shot Brown. Speaking at a news conference Friday morning in the parking lot of a burned-out convenience store, Jackson said Wilson had no prior disciplinary record and was treated for injuries sustained during the incident.

Ferguson police also provided documents to reporters that appeared to indicate that Brown was confronted by Wilson after the 18-year-old was identified as a suspect in a “strong-arm” robbery.

According to the Ferguson Police Department incident report, an officer received a call at 11:51 a.m. on Saturday while responding to a report of a sick resident at an apartment complex. The call indicated that a robbery was in progress at the convenience store. The dispatcher provided a description of the suspect, who according to the documents was identified as a black male in a white T-shirt, walking north on West Florissant Avenue, a main thoroughfare in Ferguson.

Not seeing the suspect, the officer returned to the convenience store, where he spoke to a patron who had witnessed the scene after exiting the bathroom. According to the account of the witness, whose name is redacted, she saw Brown ask a store employee for several boxes of cigars. Then he allegedly grabbed a box of Swisher Sweets—worth approximately $49, according to the documents—and handed it to his companion, identified in the report as Dorian Johnson.

According to the documents, the store employee told Brown he had to pay for the item. At that point, according to the witness account, Brown grabbed several packs of cigars and tried to leave the store. According to the witness’s account, the store employee attempted to block Brown’s exit. Someone—the person’s name is redacted in the report—called 911.

“That is when Brown grabbed [redacted] by the shirt and forcefully pushed him back into a display rack,” the report states. Surveillance camera still-images included in the documents purport to show the suspect grabbing a man, apparently the store employee, near the collar in an aggressive fashion.

According to the documents, surveillance footage reviewed by police shows Brown menacing the store employee. “An apparent struggle or confrontation seems to take place with Brown, however it is obscured by the display case,” the report says, adding that Brown “aggressively pulls [redacted] in close to him and then immediately pushes him back in to a display rack.”

About seven minutes later, at 12:01 p.m., Wilson encountered Brown on Canfield Drive, Chief Jackson told reporters. Moments later, Brown was dead, his body lying in the street. The events surrounding the shooting itself remain unclear.

A Ferguson police spokesman could not be reached after the morning press event to answer further questions about the report or whether a similar account of the shooting itself would be forthcoming. But by mid-afternoon, Jackson was walking back the connection between Wilson, the robbery and the shooting of Michael Brown, indicating that the officer who responded to the scene of the robbery was not Wilson, but another Ferguson policeman.

“This robbery does not relate to the initial contact between the officer and Michael Brown,” Jackson told reporters Friday afternoon. Jackson said Wilson initially stopped Brown and a friend who was with him because they were walking down the middle of the street “blocking traffic.” Wilson was in the area after responding to another unrelated call nearby, Jackson said.

When questioned about his decision to release a video to the public showing a man purported to be Michael Brown apparently attacking and threatening a convenience store clerk while committing a robbery, Jackson said he made the tape public after numerous requests from the media under the Freedom of Information Act. “All I did was release the video tape to you because I had to,” he said.

For all its ambiguities, the Ferguson police account, provided to reporters by a police representative, represents the force’s fullest attempt yet to tell its side of the events preceding Brown’s shooting, which touched off five days of violent clashes here this week, as heavily armed police clad in riot gear hurled tear gas canisters and shot rubber bullets into angry crowds. It may be an attempt to present an alternative portrait of Brown, who has been portrayed by family as a “meek” and “soft-spoken” young man. “A gentle giant,” his cousin, Eric Davis, said Thursday. “He would flee from fear.”

In a statement released Thursday after the Ferguson police chief’s press event, the family and lawyers of Michael Brown released a statement saying they were outraged at the handling of the issue. “The prolonged release of the officer’s name and then the subsequent alleged information regarding a robbery is the reason why the family and the local community have such distrust for the local law enforcement agencies,” the statement said.

At a press conference late Friday afternoon, lawyers for the family admitted that it appeared to be Brown on the surveillance tape of the robbery released by the police, and said that Brown was not a perfect kid. The lawyers said the effort was a “strategic” move by the police to distract attention from the shooting. “What happened in the 18 years before [the shooting] does not matter,” one of the attorneys, Anthony Gray said.

Others were also critical of the Ferguson police’s handling of the disclosure. “I was not in the loop,” Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald Johnson, who was installed Thursday to run the police response to the situation, said at a news conference Friday. “I learned about it when you did.” Johnson that he planned to voice his frustration to Ferguson officials in person and to analyze the report in an effort to address the community’s concerns.

The police’s decision to release an account of the alleged robbery at the same time they divulged Wilson’s name could be a mistake, said a federal law enforcement source. Dozens of protesters massed at the QwikTrip, angrily denouncing the Ferguson police, and gathered at the news conferences to express displeasure at Jackson, the Ferguson police chief. “We don’t need people like that in charge,” said Michelle Foster, 47. “I might not live to see the day when we, as a black community, trust the police.”

With reporting from Kristina Sauerwein/Ferguson

Witness Tension Between Police and Protestors in Ferguson, Mo.

A man backs away as law enforcement officials close in on him and eventually detain him during protests over the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager killed by a police officer, in Ferguson, Mo.
A man backs away as law enforcement officials close in on him and eventually detain him during protests over the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager killed by a police officer, in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 11, 2014. Whitney Curtis—The New York Times/Redux
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
Riot police force protestors from the business district into nearby neighborhoods in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
A child uses a rag to shield his face from tear gas fired by riot police, who used it to force protestors from the business district into nearby neighborhoods in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
Police officers keep watch from an armored vehicle as they patrol a street in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 11, 2014Mario Anzuoni—Reuters
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
Police officers ride an armored vehicle as they patrol a street in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014.Mario Anzuoni—Reuters
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
A demonstrator raises his hands in front of of a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014.Mario Anzuoni—Reuters
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
Riot police lock down a neighborhood in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Ferguson St. Louis Missouri Police Shooting Riots Protests
People raise their hands in the middle of the street as riot police move toward their position trying to get them to disperse, in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 11, 2014.Jeff Roberson—AP
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Demonstrators raise their hands and chant "hands up, don't shoot" during a protest over the killing of Michael Brown on in Clayton, Mo. on August 12, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton speaks about the killing of teenager Michael Brown at a press conference held on the steps of the old courthouse in St. Louis on Aug. 12, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Police take up position to control demonstrators who were protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 12, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Demonstrators protest the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on August 12, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Demonstrators protest the killing of teenager Michael Brown outside Greater St. Marks Family Church in St. Louis on Aug. 12, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Police stand watch as demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
TEAR GAS SHOT AT PROTESTORS
A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after tactical officers worked to break up a group of bystanders on Chambers Road near West Florissant in Ferguson on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/MCT/Zuma Press
Police Shooting Missouri
Police officers work their way north on West Florissant Avenue clearing the road of people in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014. Robert Cohen—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Demonstrators protest the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Police Shooting Missouri
People run through smoke in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014.Jeff Roberson—AP
APTOPIX Police Shooting Missouri
A protester takes shelter from smoke billowing around him in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 13, 2014.David Carson—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP
Police Shooting Missouri
An explosive device deployed by police flies in the air as police and protesters clash in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 13, 2014Jeff Roberson—AP
Police Shooting Missouri
Thousands of demonstrators peacefully march to the spot where Michael Brown was shot and killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Jeff Roberson—AP
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Demetrus Washington joins other demonstrators protesting the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Demonstrators protest outside of Greater St. Marks Family Church in Ferguson, Missouri
Demonstrators protest outside of Greater St. Marks Family Church in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Protesters take part in a peaceful demonstration against shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri
Protesters light candles as they take part in a peaceful demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson speaks to protesters as he walks through a peaceful demonstration as communities continue to react to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson
Missouri State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson (L) speaks to protesters as he walks through a peaceful demonstration as communities continue to react to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 14, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
A young child looks out from a car as demonstrators drive down West Florissant Avenue protesting the shooting and death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 15, 2014.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
A demonstrator walks through smoke launched by police after a skirmish in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 15, 2014Scott Olson—Getty Images
Ferguson Lowenstein
A demonstrator protests on Florissant Ave in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 16, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—NOOR for TIME
Ferguson Lowenstein
Children walk past police officers during a demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 16, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Ferguson Lowenstein
Protestors help a man who was injured by tear gas thrown by police after refusing to disperse after the midnight curfew in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Ferguson Jon Lowenstein Teargas
Protestors throw canisters in Ferguson, Mo. on August 18, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Ferguson Lowenstein
Protestors demonstrate against the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo. on August 17, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—NOOR for TIME
Ferguson Lowenstein
A protestor during demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo. on August 17, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Ferguson Lowenstein
A protestor retaliates against police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Ferguson Lowenstein
A protestor throws a canister of tear gas back at police during demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Police Shooting Missouri
Police wait to advance after tear gas was used to dispersed a crowd in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014.Charlie Riedel—AP
Ferguson Lowenstein
A protestor holds a sign that reads "stop killing us" amid clouds of tear gas in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014.Jon Lowenstein—Noor for TIME
Police Shooting Missouri
Police wait to advance after tear gas was used to disperse a crowd in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014.Charlie Riedel—AP
Outrage In Missouri Town After Police Shooting Of 18-Yr-Old Man
Tear gas rains down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air during a demonstration in Ferguson on Aug. 17, 2014. The "hands up, don't shoot" pose became the defining gesture of the protests.Scott Olson—Getty Images
Protesters react to the effects of tear gas which was fired at demonstrators reacting to the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri
Protesters attempt to treat a woman who was in a cloud of tear gas thrown by police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 17, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Demonstrators march down West Florissant during a peaceful march in reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown near Ferguson, Missouri
Demonstrators march down West Florissant Ave. during a peaceful march in reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown near Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
REUTERS PICTURE HIGHLIGHT
Demonstrators march down West Florissant during a peaceful march in reaction to the shooting of Michael Brown, near Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Police arrest two in front of McDonalds
Police tackle a man who was walking down the street in front of McDonald's in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014.Laurie Skrivan—St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP
US-CRIME-RACE-POLICE-SHOOTING
Law enforcement officers watch on during a protest on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images
National Guard Called In As Unrest Continues In Ferguson
Demonstrators cover their faces as tear gas fills the air as police fire the gas against an unruly crowd protesting the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug.18, 2014Joe Raedle—Getty Images
Violence between police and protestors erupts in Ferguson - again
A protestor wearing a gas mask stands with his hands up while facing armed police in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. Abe Van Dyke—Demotix/Corbis
Police fire tear gas in the direction of where bottles were thrown from crowds gathered near the QuikTrip on W. Florissant Avenue on Aug. 18, 2014.
Police fire tear gas in the direction of where bottles were thrown from crowds gathered near the QuikTrip on W. Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 18, 2014. David Carson—St Louis Post-Dispatch/Polaris
Demonstrators stand in the middle of West Florissant as they react to tear gas fired by police during ongoing protests in reaction to the shooting of Brown, near Ferguson
Demonstrators stand in the middle of West Florissant as they react to tear gas fired by police during ongoing protests in reaction to the shooting of teenager Michael Brown, near Ferguson, Missouri, August 18, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
Demonstrators protest against the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Aug. 19, 2014.
Demonstrators protest against the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Aug. 19, 2014. Joshua Lott—Reuters
A police officer in riot gear detains a demonstrator protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson
A police officer in riot gear detains a demonstrator protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 19, 2014. Joshua Lott—Reuters
Police officers in riot gear watch demonstrators protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown from the side of a building in Ferguson
Police officers in riot gear watch demonstrators protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown from the side of a building in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 19, 2014. Joshua Lott—Reuters
TOPSHOTS-US-CRIME-RACE-POLICE-SHOOTING
Two protesters sit with their faces covered during a peaceful protest in Ferguson, Mo. early on Aug. 20, 2014. Michael B. Thomas—AFP/Getty Images
A man is doused with milk and sprayed with mist after being hit by an eye irritant from security forces trying to disperse demonstrators protesting against the shooting of Brown in Ferguson
A man is doused with milk and sprayed with mist after being hit by an eye irritant from security forces trying to disperse demonstrators in Ferguson, Mo. early on Aug. 20, 2014. Adrees Latif—Reuters
APTOPIX Police Shooting Missouri
In this photo taken with a long exposure, protesters march in the street as lightning flashes in the distance in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 20, 2014.Jeff Roberson—AP

More Must-Reads from TIME

Write to Alex Altman/Ferguson, Mo. at alex_altman@timemagazine.com