Video shows Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson leaving for the hospital after shooting Michael Brown
Family says it appears claims of policeman's injuries were exaggerated
Newly released video shows Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson leaving police headquarters to be examined at the hospital the day he fatally shot Michael Brown Jr.
Wilson, wearing an untucked white T-shirt, is seen walking out of the building at 2:08 p.m., a little more than two hours after Brown’s death. He was accompanied by his union lawyer and other officers.
At 4:30 p.m., surveillance cameras at the Ferguson Police Department capture Wilson and the other men returning from the hospital.
The surveillance videos — obtained through the state’s open records law — were published late Friday in a story by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Wilson, who has not been seen in public since being put on paid leave, is under investigation for shooting the unarmed 18-year-old multiple times in broad daylight in the middle of a residential street.
Last month, an unidentified source familiar with the investigation told the Post-Dispatch that Wilson said Brown punched him twice in the head during their initial encounter.
“He almost lost consciousness,” the source said of the officer’s account. Wilson described the 6-foot-4, 289 pound teen as “incredibly strong.”
“His face was swollen, so he’d obviously been hit or punched or something like that,” Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told ABC News in the aftermath of the shooting.
On Saturday, attorneys for Brown’s family said the video of Wilson coming and going from the police station contributes to their argument that the officer was unjustified in killing the teen.
“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,” the Parks & Crumplaw firm said in an email. “From the video released today it would appear the initial descriptions of his injuries were exaggerated.”
A grand jury has been hearing evidence since Aug. 20 to determine if Wilson should face criminal charges in Brown's death. Police experts have said officers generally have leeway to use lethal force if they reasonably fear they are in imminent danger. The panel’s decision is expected soon.
“We will wait for the Grand Jury's decision and continue to develop a plan to change the system that now works entirely in favor of law enforcement and against citizens,” the Brown's attorneys said on Saturday.
The Post-Dispatch also published police and ambulance radio calls from the events surrounding the controversial killing. The audio, which had not been previously released, corroborates a previously reported timeline showing that the shooting of the teen unfolded in less than 90 seconds.
Officials have said that Wilson saw Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, 22, walking down the middle of Canfield Drive shortly after noon on Aug. 9. The officer reportedly stopped and ordered the men to get on the sidewalk.
According to interviews and analysis by the newspaper, as the pair walked away, Wilson realized that Brown matched the description of a man wanted for stealing cigars from a convenience store about 15 minutes earlier.
[Related: Chief: Officer Wilson ‘immediately’ returns if cleared in Michael Brown's death]
At 12:02 p.m., Wilson radioed dispatch and said “Put me on Canfield with two. And send me another car” as he reversed his patrol SUV next to Brown and Johnson.
A brief altercation ensued between the officer and teen at the SUV’s door. Sources have told the Post-Dispatch that Wilson said Brown attacked him and that they struggled over the officer’s gun before Wilson could fire twice, hitting Brown once.
Johnson has told investigators and reporters that Wilson instigated the violence by grabbing Brown and trying to pull him into his patrol vehicle. Johnson and Brown fled on foot after the first two shots were fired.
Wilson reportedly has told authorities he called in “Shots fired, send all cars,” but that the channel on his radio had been switched during the struggle. The Post-Dispatch reported they could not locate a recording for that call.
Wilson then pursued Brown on foot and shot the teen after he stopped and charged him, the paper reported. But some eye witnesses, including Johnson, said that Brown appeared to have been shot from behind and had turned and raised his hands in surrender when Wilson fired the fatal shots.
At 12:03 p.m., one of those eyewitnesses Tweeted: “I JUST SAW SOMEONE DIE OMFG.”
“If his smartphone’s clock, or Twitter’s, agreed with the clock on dispatch records, Brown was killed less than 61 seconds after the dispatcher acknowledged that Wilson had stopped two men,” the Post-Dispatch reported in its analysis.
Jason Sickles is a reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles).
