Newly-released video of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson taken in the hours after the Aug. 9 shooting of Michael Brown and audio recordings of police radio traffic secured and published this weekend by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has provided new insight into the day of the shooting.
The St. Louis paper’s analysis of the police radio traffic suggests that the audio sheds light on Wilson’s interaction with Brown, while the video images – taken by surveillance cameras at Ferguson Police Department headquarters – led the Brown family attorneys to question reports of Wilson’s alleged injuries.
The first video, taken by surveillance cameras at the Ferguson Police Department, show Wilson leaving the building after the shooting with several other men who the paper identifies as other officers and his attorney.
The other video shows Wilson and the men returning to the department headquarters. The St. Louis paper reports that Wilson left to go to the hospital and returned two hours later.
The video – grainy and at times jumpy – are the first confirmed images of Wilson from the night of the shooting. Almost no public images exist of Wilson, whose name was not released for almost a week after the shooting. The officer, who is on paid leave, had not been seen publicly since the day of the shooting.
Some of Wilson’s supporters have said he was seriously injured in the altercation with Brown. The video released this weekend shows Wilson moving normally but does not provide a close view of his face.
Attorneys representing Michael Brown’s family issued a statement Saturday in which they said the new video undermines claims from Wilson supporters that the officer was severely beaten by Brown.
Early on “information was leaked from within the police department that Wilson was severely beaten and suffered an orbital eye socket ‘blowout,’ indicating that Michael Brown somehow deserved to die,” said the statement from attorneys Benjamin Crump, Anthony Gray and Daryl Parks. “From the video released today it would appear the initial descriptions of his injuries were exaggerated.”
The account published by the Post-Dispatch also includes new details, compiled through an analysis of police radio traffic, about Wilson’s interactions with other officers immediately before and after the shooting.
According to the Post-Dispatch’s account, Wilson radioed at noon to ask if officers needed assistance in searching for the suspects of an alleged robbery that occurred at a nearby store.
Whether or not Wilson knew about the robbery – which involved Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson – has been a major point of contention and confusion. Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson has given conflicting public statements.
Two minutes later he again radioed and said “put me on Canfield with two and send me another car” which prompted two other police vehicles to head in his direction, the paper reported. It is unclear from the paper’s account if this call occurred before or after the shooting took place.
About 41 seconds later, according to the Post Dispatch, another officer radioed that he was arriving at the scene.
Officials with the Ferguson Police Department and St. Louis County Police Department – which is handling the investigation – did not respond to requests for comment on the Post-Dispatch’s report.
Crump, Gray and Parks also challenged the audio, saying it shows the “initial interaction with the officer and Brown had nothing to do with the incident at the convenience store. The remaining portions of the audiotape did not establish any connection with the convenience store incident.”
The video release and new details of the timeline of the incident comes as most in greater St. Louis anxiously await the grand jury decision on whether to indict Wilson with a crime for the shooting.
Groups of protesters have spent hours planning acts of civil disobedience to be carried out in the event that Wilson is not charged. Top state and police officials, meanwhile, are in the midst of a local media campaign meant to reassure the local public that they are ready to respond to any violence.
Meanwhile, one local television station reported on Friday night that Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told them that Wilson will likely return to his post if he is not indicted.
