Darren Wilson, the 28-year-old police officer
who killed an unarmed Ferguson teenager
with a shot to the head, has so far said
nothing publicly about the incident.
Wilson and his girlfriend, Barbara Spradling,
left their home in Crestwood, a
predominantly white neighbourhood some 18
miles from Ferguson, before he was named
last week in connection with the shooting of
Michael Brown.
But before they left, Spradling gave an
account of the shooting to a friend, who says
it is markedly different from the narrative
espoused by Brown’s family and their
supporters.
The friend of Spradling’s, who declined to be
named, told the Guardian that Wilson admits
that he shot Brown in the head, as confirmed
by an independent autopsy performed at the
family’s request, the results of which were
first reported by the New York Times on
Sunday.
However, Wilson’s version of events, as told
through Spradling to the friend, contradicts
aspects of the accounts given by some other
eyewitnesses, including Dorian Johnson, a
friend of Brown who was with him when he
was stopped, minutes after the pair were
allegedly involved in a robbery at a
convenience store.
There appears to be little dispute that a
struggle took place, though the pathologists
who carried out the autopsy for Brown’s
family said Monday their preliminary
finding was that Brown’s body showed no
evidence of one. The account provided by
police, given in the hours after the shooting,
is that Wilson stopped Brown and Johnson
for walking down the middle of the street
when they should have been on the sidewalk.
Spradling told the friend who spoke to the
Guardian that Brown initiated the altercation
by striking Wilson in the face, leading to a
struggle for Wilson’s gun that resulted in one
shot being fired in the police vehicle.
St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar said
at a news conference on Sunday that when
Wilson got out of his squad car, Brown
pushed him back in, and a struggle ensued.
Belmar said at least one shot was fired from
the officer’s gun inside the police car. An
officer with the St Louis County police, who
declined to be named, told the Guardian that
Brown sustained an injury to his thumb at
this point; the autopsy released on Monday
shows that one shot hit Brown’s hand.
Johnson has given several slightly differing
accounts of the incident. A week ago he told
MSNBC that as a squad car pulled up, Wilson
called out at them to “get the Bleep on the
sidewalk”, before the car reversed back
alongside them. Johnson claims the officer
opened his door onto Brown, and the door
bounced off him.
Johnson, in an account supported by other
eyewitnesses , maintains that Wilson grabbed
Brown through the window of his squad car.
Johnson, in a disputed claim, said that Wilson
fired a shot while still grabbing on to Brown.
What is not disputed is that Brown then made
off. In his MSNBC interview, Johnson said
Brown was shot in the back, at which point
he turned around and put his hands up. “I
don’t have a gun, stop shooting,” Brown said,
according to Johnson. (Johnson’s assertion
that Brown was shot in the back was not
supported by the findings of the independent
autopsy.)
But Spradling told the friend that Brown
turned around after the officer called on him
to stop. In Wilson’s version, Brown was not
shot while surrendering, but while moving
toward Wilson in a threatening manner.
Brown reportedly continued to move toward
Wilson even after being shot, and did not
stop moving forward until suffering a mortal
wound to the head.
“He just kept coming,” the friend said Wilson
claimed.
In Wilson’s account, Brown never raised his
hands to plead for his life, or said “don’t
shoot”, but rather taunted Wilson before
moving forward and being shot.
Spradling told the friend the prevailing
narrative was “a lie” before going into
seclusion.
Friends of the couple have also expressed
concern about the racial and institutional
politics involved, worrying that the charged
environment may unduly influence the case.
In addition to concerns for their safety,
friends of Spradling and Wilson believe
Wilson’s reputation has been unfairly
tarnished by a rush to judgment from the
media and some members of the public. One
friend of Spradling’s believes the legitimacy
of any evidence supporting Wilson’s version
of events will be questioned by protesters.