Approximately 15 minutes before he was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson on Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, Mike Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson entered a local convenience store, the Ferguson Market. What happened in the store has been subject to much debate and was very much shaped by the initial release of photos and a shortened video of the full 50 seconds Mike Brown and Dorian Johnson were inside of the store. The entire video, which is 1:40 seconds long, synthesizes two different videos together, showing the different camera angles of those 50 seconds.
What follows will be an analysis of the video showing what happened inside of the Ferguson Market and how it has been misrepresented by the Ferguson Police Department—a video, if you remember, that the Department of Justice specifically requested the Ferguson authorities not to release.
Below the fold is the full video, from two different angles, showing the 50 seconds Mike Brown and Dorian Johnson were inside of the Ferguson Market.
At 0:13, Mike Brown enters the store.
The same entry, but from a different angle is shown at 0:29.
At 0:15, Dorian Johnson enters the store.
The same entry, but from a different angle, is shown at 0:31.
At 0:34, a female employee begins to walk toward the counter.
At 0:38, this female employee goes behind the counter.
At 0:43, Mike Brown grabs a box of cigars.
At 0:48, Mike Brown hands the box of cigars to Dorian Johnson.
At 0:53, Mike Brown is seen talking to the employees.
At 0:57, Mike Brown grabs another box of cigars with his left hand and a few packs with his right hand.
At 1:03, Mike Brown puts the box of cigars that he grabbed back onto the counter.
At 1:05, Dorian Johnson is seen putting the box of cigars he was holding back on the counter.
At 1:08, Mike Brown bends over to pick up loose packs of cigars from the ground.
At 1:15, Mike Brown begins to leave the store.
At 1:15, a male employee is seen emerging from behind the counter with keys in his hand.
At 1:21, out of the sight of the camera, the male employee confronts Mike Brown.
At 1:26, the video shows what was actually happening at 1:21 as the employee confronts Mike Brown.
At 1:27, the male employee appears to attempt to impede Mike Brown's exit from the store.
At 1:28, the male employee appears to bump into Mike Brown.
At 1:29, Mike Brown shoves the male employee.
At 1:30, the male employee pulls the door closed.
At 1:32, Mike Brown walks toward the male employee to get him to let go of the door and get out of the way.
At 1:33, Dorian Johnson exits the store.
At 1:35, Mike Brown's left hand is empty and his right hand can be seen with a few loose packs of cigars.
At 1:36, Mike Brown exits the Ferguson Market.
At 1:40, the male employee exits after Mike Brown.
Now, some basic analysis of the video and its characterization following the shooting death of Mike Brown:
1. The police report
stated (also in the image above) that Mike Brown stole a box of cigars worth $48.99, but he and Dorian Johnson both put the boxes of cigars back on the counter as seen in 1:03 and 1:05 in the video from the store. Furthermore, at 1:35 in the video, and in the still, Mike Brown is seen with just a few loose cigars.
The image below also shows Mike and Dorian returning the box of cigars stated in the police report.
2. The attorney for the Ferguson Market stated that the
store never called the police to report a crime and only gave the video to the police when a search warrant
forced them to do so.
3. The Department of Justice explicitly asked the Ferguson police NOT to release the video to the public, but the department did so despite this request.
4. Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson stated that Officer Darren Wilson was unaware of this incident during his confrontation with Mike Brown. He later came out to say that he was unsure if Darren Wilson knew or didn't know.