Freguson police did everything wrong #3 . . . and they are still at it.

When I chose my running title for blogs about the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, I intuitively chose to focus on what the police had done wrong.    It now seems to be the main theme of this whole thing.    If anything can be done the wrong way, that's what they seem bent on doing.

The one exception in all this is the governor's wise choice to remove the local police chief of responsibility and put the highway patrol officer, Capt. Ron Johnson, in charge.   But it doesn't seem that he has much control of the local police chief, who has continued to give press releases in his same ham-handed, tone-deaf manner.

It's also not clear to me whether all the officers now managing the nightly curfew are local police or highway patrolmen, and whether Johnson has control of all of them.   This morning we read that the governor is calling in the national guard.

The glaring omission so far is that the police still have not released the report from the officer who did the shooting.   What exactly transpired . . . from his point of view.   Is it so damaging, and so confirming of what people are assuming, that they dare not release it?   Or is this just part of their clueless response?

An independent, private second autopsy has been performed at the family's request.   A preliminary report from this autopsy shows that Michael Brown was shot six times, four in the right arm and two in the head.    What appears to be the final shot was into the top of his head, indicating that his head was bent down.

Witnesses have said that he was standing with his hands in the air while shots were fired at him.

This all leaves very pertinent questions that only a reconciliation -- or attempt at it -- between the offier's report and the witnesses reports can answer.   Until we have that, this cannot be resolved.   They can use massive police forces and stop the violence -- but they cannot heal the pain or assuage the anger that way.   Only full disclosure, accountability, and a changed relationship between this community and the police can solve this problem.

Ralph

[Added late morning].  More from the private pathologist's report.   Evidence suggests that Michael was trying to surrender when the shot that killed him was fired.  It enters the top of his head, and he was 6'4" tall;   so his head undoubtedly was bent down, or else he was bending over.    Not likely a position of threat to the officer requiring a shot into the head of an unarmed man.   At least two witnesses have said Michael had his hands in the air.