Joepistole
No one is trying to make Wilson a scapegoat.
Police shootings need to be investigated thoroughly, not treated in such a manner as to do everything to ensure the officer is not charged. Then of course comes the issue of absolute obedience that is expected from society.
That they can do no wrong. We know they can do wrong.
We only need to look at the Police Department in Ferguson to see that, the very department that investigated Brown's death, the very department that allowed exceptionally dubious handling of the evidence,
even Wilson's gun:
There was, for example, Witness 134, who had been Wilson's field training officer in Ferguson and was also engaged to marry him. According to the DoJ report, Witness 134 saw Wilson at police headquarters right after the shooting:
Witness 134 also explained that other than facial injuries, she did not notice additional injuries or blood on Wilson, but she did notice blood on the hammer of his gun, still holstered in his belt. Wilson asked her to retrieve latex gloves for him, which Wilson then used to clear and package his gun. Witness 134 did not actually see Wilson do this because her back was to him, although she could hear what he was doing. She also saw the envelope, presumably containing the gun, sealed with evidence tape, but did not know who eventually took it to an evidence locker.
That passage struck me as odd because of what I remembered reading from the testimony of a crime scene investigator saying, under oath, before the grand jury:
I inquired of its [Wilson's firearm's] whereabouts and I was told that someone had placed Darren Wilson's department issued side arm in an evidence envelope, which wasn't sealed. It was on a desk there in the detective bureau with other detectives from that department present.
Interesting, no? Wilson's beloved heard him package up his firearm and saw the sealed bag, yet another law enforcement officer found that same weapon in an unsealed envelope.
Then there's this bit from the DoJ report's summary of Wilson's account of events:
In response to specific questions by federal prosecutors, Wilson explained that he had left his keys in the ignition of his vehicle and the engine running during the pursuit, so he went back to his SUV to secure it. In so doing, he was careful only to touch the door and the keys. Wilson then walked over to his sergeant, Witness 147, and told him what happened. Both Wilson and Witness 147 explained that Witness 147 told Wilson to wait in his SUV, but Wilson refused, explaining that he waited there, it would be known to the neighborhood that he was the shooter.
Wilson then left, the report continues, via Witness 147's vehicle on Witness 147's orders, which is all well and good until we consider the grand jury testimony of Wilson's supervising officer:
Q: Did you see Darren Wilson?
A: Yes, ma'am, I did.
Q: Where was he?
A: He was behind, he was on the driver's seat of the vehicle.
Q: Of his vehicle?
A: Yes, ma'am.
And:
Q: Now, at this point is Darren Wilson still in the vehicle?
A: Yes, ma'am.
Q: Did he get out of the car when you got there?
A: The only time he got out of the car is when I told him to into my vehicle and leave the scene.
Witness 147 is also known as Sergeant Mudd, who resigned from the Ferguson Police Department for his racist emails after the DoJ report on Ferguson was released.
He was also the first police supervisor on the scene of Brown's shooting.
I shouldn't have to point out the mindset of those involved in this case, should I?
What happened in Ferguson is nothing new. Certainly, when it is all put in front of you in one lump, it can be overwhelming, but when it is spread out as a day to day practice, there isn't that much wrong, or doesn't appear to be wrong if you are not constantly on the receiving end of it. Ferguson showed what happens in a community when racial profiling becomes a part of policing, especially when it is coupled with revenue raising. The targets will often be the minorities. Why? Because the racism and bigotry is so prevalent within that department that it had become openly obvious and worse still, openly practiced.
Photizo's point is that blacks need to obey. That has been the gist of his argument throughout this thread. Should they obey police officers that see them as being less than human and target them unfairly and unnecessarily because of their colour? Should those officers be respected?