Ferguson officer realized during encounter that Michael Brown might be suspect in robbery, chief says
The officer who shot Ferguson teen Michael Brown stopped Brown and another teen because they were walking in the street, not because of a robbery a few minutes earlier, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said Friday afternoon.
Jackson said the officer was aware cigars had been taken in the robbery of a store nearby, but did not know when he encountered Brown and Dorian Johnson that they might be suspects. He stopped them because they were walking in the street, Jackson said.
But Jackson told the Post-Dispatch that the officer, Darren Wilson, saw cigars in Brown's hand and realized he might be the robber.
Jackson also addressed concerns about his release of information about the robbery at the same time he released the name of the officer at a press conference Friday morning.
Jackson said he released the security video from the liquor store because news organizations had been requesting it under the Freedom of Information Act.
Asked by reporters why he released the tape, he said, "Because I had to. Too many people put in (freedom of information) requests for it."
Told of the family's angry reaction to the release, he said, "First, my heart goes out to the family. I can't imagine what they are going through. We have given you everything that we have now… There is nothing else we have got."
Jackson said Wilson, 28, worked as a police officer in neighboring Jennings for two years before joining Ferguson about four years ago. He described Wilson as “a gentle, quiet man” and “a distinguished officer.”
Jennings closed its police department in late 2011 in the wake of a federal probe into the theft of grant money, and turned public safety over to St. Louis County Police.
For Wilson, Jackson said, the shooting "is absolutely devastating. He never intended for any of this to happen."
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