This is a tough topic and perhaps pointless to post about it here. But, my feelings are somewhat torn....unless you were actually first-hand witness to the event, it's impossible to be completely be on one side or the other if one leaves their emotions at the door.
It's clear that this nation has many problems to figure out with poverty, reckless & criminal behavior, racial tolerance, racial profiling, etc. Unless law enforcement & society deals with the complicated root causes on these issues, there will likely be another Ferguson.
One the one side, they are calling the officer a murderer and the failure of the system to indict Wilson as yet another injustice to blacks in America, and on the other side you have Officer Wilson defending himself as he was confronted aggressively by an unarmed Brown.
Apparently witnesses to the situation gave testimony which as a whole believed Wilson's side to be true, though it seems there were alternate variations of the events that would discount Wilson's version.
The media and outside influences do not help one bit.
Did Michael Brown have to die? I think not. But then again, if I were in that situation (though not a cop) and if Brown was aggressively coming at me, would I have done the same thing? Probably.
As a police officer, I have to believe there are procedures to avoid shooting someone to death, especially if they are unarmed. Apparently Wilson had mace, but no taser gun. Could he have shot him in the legs or got in his car to a more secure location while back up arrive?
It's clear that this nation has many problems to figure out with poverty, reckless & criminal behavior, racial tolerance, racial profiling, etc. Unless law enforcement & society deals with the complicated root causes on these issues, there will likely be another Ferguson.
One the one side, they are calling the officer a murderer and the failure of the system to indict Wilson as yet another injustice to blacks in America, and on the other side you have Officer Wilson defending himself as he was confronted aggressively by an unarmed Brown.
Apparently witnesses to the situation gave testimony which as a whole believed Wilson's side to be true, though it seems there were alternate variations of the events that would discount Wilson's version.
The media and outside influences do not help one bit.
Did Michael Brown have to die? I think not. But then again, if I were in that situation (though not a cop) and if Brown was aggressively coming at me, would I have done the same thing? Probably.
As a police officer, I have to believe there are procedures to avoid shooting someone to death, especially if they are unarmed. Apparently Wilson had mace, but no taser gun. Could he have shot him in the legs or got in his car to a more secure location while back up arrive?