Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Mike Brown autopsy report and other news from Ferguson


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I kept reading this sentence from the autopsy report of Dr. Michael M. Baden, reported in the New York Times:

One of the bullets shattered Mr. Brown’s right eye, traveled through his face, exited his jaw and re-entered his collarbone. The last two shots in the head would have stopped him in his tracks and were likely the last fired.


More:

Dr. Baden, 80, is a well-known New York-based medical examiner, who is one of only about 400 board-certified forensic pathologists in the nation. He reviewed the autopsies of both President John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and has performed more than 20,000 autopsies himself.

He is best known for having hosted the HBO show “Autopsy,” but he rankles when he is called a “celebrity medical examiner,” saying that the vast majority of what he does has nothing to do with celebrities.

Dr. Baden said that because of the tremendous attention to the case, he waived his $10,000 fee.

Prof. Shawn L. Parcells, a pathologist assistant based in Kansas, assisted Dr. Baden.”You do this for the families,” Mr. Parcells said.

The two medical experts conducted the four-hour examination Sunday at the Austin A. Layne Mortuary in St. Louis. Benjamin L. Crump, a lawyer for Mr. Brown’s family who paid their travel expenses, hired them. “The sheer number of bullets and the way they were scattered all over his body showed this police officer had a brazen disregard for the very people he was supposed to protect in that community,” Mr. Crump said. “We want to make sure people understand what this case is about: This case is about a police officer executing a young unarmed man in broad daylight.”

The National Guard is being called in, tear gas was fired last night…

So much to talk about, and I’m still trying to absorb the autopsy report.

Let this be another open thread.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 32 Comments

32 comments

  2. JanF

    My first reaction when I heard rumors of the 6 bullets a couple of days ago was that it was a cop ticked off that someone would not listen to him. In Missouri’s ghettoized suburbs, apparently that is grounds for the death penalty … with justice delivered by a white cop as the judge jury and executioner.

    Notable also is that there is no case number on the report. Why? Because the OFFICIAL report is being held in an undisclosed location until it can be presented in a way that exonerates Office Wilson and the culture of racism on the police force. Good luck with that, Ferguson.

    Here is another reason why people in Ferguson are upset. The guy who will prosecute this case: Objectivity of prosecutor in Missouri shooting of Michael Brown is questioned

    St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley on Friday said he is leading an effort to remove the county prosecutor from investigating the Michael Brown case because he thinks the prosecutor’s personal experiences and recent statements have tainted his ability to act objectively.[…]

    Dooley’s spokeswoman, Pat Washington, said there have been long-standing concerns among many black leaders in the community regarding County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s ability to handle such cases because his father was killed in the line of duty when McCulloch was 12 years old. The man who shot his father was black.

    Most recently, she said, Dooley feels McCulloch crossed a line when he publicly criticized a decision this week by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) to bring in the State Highway Patrol to lead efforts to quell the violent street protests that erupted after the shooting of Brown.

    “He injected himself in a matter in a way that further exacerbates the community distrust of him,” Washington said. “Rather than stay focused on the investigation, the prosecuting attorney decided to wade over into a whole other area and challenge the governor. He inflamed the community, which already distrusts him.”[…]

    In July 2000, questions were raised about his leading an investigation into two white police officers who fatally shot two black men. The two officers, undercover drug agents, shot Earl Murray and Ronald Beasley, both unarmed, on June 12, 2000, in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant in the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley. A county grand jury declined to indict the officers; McCulloch said he agreed with the decision.

    According to the article there is no means by which to remove the county prosecutor from the case. The only recourse is likely to remove it from his jurisdiction by making it a federal case. I hope they move swiftly.

  4. JanF

    Ten Things White People Can Do About Ferguson Besides Tweet

    1. Join a peaceful protest.

    2. Recognize that Michael Brown’s death was not an isolated incident.

    3. Stop saying “This can’t be happening in America.”

    I understand the impulse, I really do. But that impulse only comes to those who are insulated and isolated from how America treats poor people and people of color every day. Langston Hughes wrote “America never was America to me” in 1935. If you didn’t quite understand that poem in your junior high or high-school lit classes, read it again, while you think about what’s happening in Ferguson. Let it sink in.

    There’s more.

  5. JanF

    Supporters Of Police Officer Who Shot Unarmed Teen Dead Stage Rally, Raise Thousands

    Supporters of Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot an unarmed teenager dead on August 9, staged a rally on Sunday. The event countered days of spirited and occasionally violent protests in support of the slain teenager, Michael Brown. […]

    Organizers also are raising money for Darren Wilson to cover “any financial needs… including legal fees.” One donor, who identified himself as John Dawson, wrote [on the organizer’s Facebook page] “As a retired officer I have run into thugs like Mike Brown also. Why do we let the media make a hero out of a thug and a criminal out of a good officer.”

    The only thing that saved me from throwing my smartphone out the window was being able to laugh at the snarky Tweets on the hashtag #MartinBaker, the name of the black teapartier who was very present at the rally.  

  8. DeniseVelez

    the thing that stood out the most (for me)

    Had Mike Brown not been shot through the top of his head (the shot that killed him) he would have survived.

    That shot was consistent with him having been on his knees/leaning forward (surrendering) since Mike Brown was 6 feet 4 inches tall.  

    The lawyers – throughout the press conference referred to his death as “an execution” and stated for the family that given the preliminary autopsy findings that Wilson should be arrested and charged.

  9. JanF

    @CNBCPolitics: BREAKING: President Obama to speak at 4pm ET from the White House briefing room on the situation in Iraq and Ferguson, MO.

    In other news, the governor has lifted the curfew and the national guard will be under the command of Captain Johnson of the highway patrol.

    Plus, Google Graham v Connor for the standards for excessive force by law enforcement in our country. It is a blank check for any cop to shoot any person. Period. We need better laws or better cops.

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