New Ferguson Video Adds Wrinkle to Michael Brown Case -
By MITCH SMITHMARCH 11, 2017
In the two and a half years since Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old, was shot
and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., the explosive case has been parsed in intricate detail.
Regardless of what happened at the store in the early-morning hours, the new security footage does not resolve long-simmering
questions about Mr. Brown’s encounter with Officer Darren Wilson along a Ferguson street that day.
Jason Pollock, a documentary filmmaker who acquired the new tape, says the footage challenges the police narrative
that Mr. Brown committed a strong-armed robbery when he returned to the store around noon that day.
And shows suppression of evidence.”
The St. Louis County Police Department briefly mentioned Mr. Brown’s early-morning visit to the store in
a lengthy report on the case, which tipped Mr. Pollock off to the existence of an additional video.
But Jay Kanzler, a lawyer for the convenience store and its employees, strongly disputes
that version of events, and said the new footage is unrelated to Mr. Brown’s later visit to the store.
Instead, Mr. Pollock believes that the new video shows Mr. Brown giving a small bag of marijuana to store employees
and receiving cigarillos in return as part of a negotiated deal.
