Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Mo., police officer whose fatal shooting of Michael Brown touched off more than a week of demonstrations, suffered severe facial injuries, including an orbital (eye socket) fracture, and was nearly beaten unconscious by Brown moments before firing his gun, a source close to the department's top brass told FoxNews.com.
"The Assistant (Police) Chief took him to the hospital, his face all swollen on one side," said the insider. "He was beaten very severely."
That's from a story written by Hollie McKay at FoxNews.com.
The source told FoxNews.com, the 6 foot, 4 inch, 292-pound Brown charged Wilson, prompting the officer to fire at least six shots at him, including the fatal bullet that penetrated the top of Brown's skull, according to an independent autopsy conducted at the request of Brown's family.
Wilson suffered a fractured eye socket in the fracas, and was left dazed by the initial confrontation, the source said. He is now "traumatized, scared for his life and his family, injured and terrified" that a grand jury, which began hearing evidence on Wednesday, will "make some kind of example out of him," the source said.
There's no question that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon's insistence on a "vigorous prosecution" is disturbing, as it implies a legal process directed by political expediency rather than rational deliberation. But beyond the above account's reliance on a single anonymous source, the actions of the Ferguson and St. Louis County cops are a bit tough to square.
If Darren Wilson was badly injured in the incident, why not disclose that sooner (and openly)? And what was up with the release of the surveillance tape apparently showing Brown ripping off a convenience store earlier on the day he was killed? The feds asked the locals not to do that but the Ferguson chief did anyway, even as he said the arresting officer had no knowledge of the robbery. The
source insisted that there was absolutely no spin agenda behind the tape's release and that there were a number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) media requests filed by media outlets seeking it. [Ferguson Police Chief] Tom Jackson is said to have waited on publicly releasing it, and did not want it shown until Brown's grieving mother first had the chance to see it.
"He defied the FOIAs as long as he could," noted the insider. "A powerful, ugly spin has completely ruined public discourse on this whole situation."
Is it possible that Ferguson authorities have managed to make an even bigger mess of things by withholding information that might have quelled some of the rage residents felt in the wake of Brown's shooting?
