by Kim D.
Should police wear body cameras? In light of what we are
witnessing in Ferguson, MO, the answer should be, most definitely, yes. The
division in this country is so great that police will not be able to
effectively do their jobs without fear of possible prosecution. The time has
come for police to wear cameras with cloud-based storage, making it impossible
to delete or edit a recording.
Too much speculation surrounds the use of deadly force against
Michael Brown. Conflicting eye-witness accounts have been running rampant on
the streets of Ferguson and on the Internet. Some claim Brown was running away
from police when he was fatally shot. Some say he was giving himself up to
police with arms raised. Others claim he was charging at the police when shots
were fired.
Today Brown’s family held a press conference to discuss the
independent autopsy performed by Dr. Baden and his findings. The results of
this now published, second autopsy prompt more questions than they answer. The
first autopsy, which has not been published and probably will not be until it
has been determined if the officer involved should be prosecuted, was conducted
by the county medical examiner, whom Dr. Baden praised as an expert in her
field. Only the first autopsy had access to the body, blood, and clothing Brown
was wearing.
Without being able to test the clothes for gunshot residue or the
blood for drugs, all Dr. Baden’s examination could reveal is a) Brown was shot
six times, b) all gun shots were survivable except for the final one which
entered the top of Brown’s head, c) Brown did not experience prolonged
suffering from his wounds. According to Dr. Baden, common sense indicates that
the arm wounds were first and head shots were last, but science cannot tell
exactly what happened.
However, these facts did not stop the Brown family lawyers from
asserting Officer Wilson used excessive force and murdered 18-year-old Mike
Brown. One lawyer, Daryl Parks, claims the two head shots are key to
understanding what happened during the shooting incident. Parks asserted that
the fatal shot to the top of the head indicates that Brown’s head was in a
downward position. This, the lawyer pronounced, is ample evidence that Brown
was surrendering to police.
Really? Or, perhaps, could it indicate
that Brown was falling toward the ground due to previous shots to the arm and
head? Oh well, maybe Eric Holder's third autopsy will be able to provide more
insight (possible but not likely).
