Brown exited the Market at 11:52:15 a.m.

The Ferguson Market's closed-circuit television (CCTV) system included a clock. The clock's display can be seen in the upper-left corner of this screen-shot.

The CCTV's clock's display is in my red box
in the upper-left corner.

Unfortunately, the clock's display is essentially illegible in the videos and images that are available to the public on the Internet. However, statements written by detectives who closely studied the original video indicate that Michael Brown exited the Market when the CCTV clock showed almost exactly 11:54:00 a.m. 

The Investigative Report includes the following statement: 

Still images 4-5, date and time stamp (8/9/2014, 11:54:01 am), Brown and Johnson exiting the business, Johnson briefly stops and faces an unknown male before continuing away from the business. 

[Page 170]

The exit time 11:54:01 is ambiguous, because Johnson exited three seconds before Brown.  

The Offense / Incident Report includes the following statement:

I [the detective] then had the opportunity to review a copy of the video surveillance footage which captured the following events. The date and time stamps correspond to the video footage provided. The entire incident takes place on Saturday, 08/09/2014 between 11:52:58 hours and 11:54:00 hours. 

The video reveals Brown enter the store .... [description of Brown in the store] ... Brown then turns back around and walks out of camera view.

[Page 7 of 10] 

The Market's CCTV clock was not synchronized with the Ferguson Police Department dispatch clock. In this article, i will calculate that the store video's clock ran about 1:45 ahead of the police dispatch clock. Therefore, when Brown exited at 11:54 according to the store clock, he exited at 11:52:15 a.m. according to the police dispatch clock. 

My reasoning for the 1:45 difference follows.

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According to the Offense / Incident Report, the Market's female clerk* initiated the 911 call before Brown exited the store. More specifically, she called just as Brown finished picking up spilled cigarillos and then headed for the door and just as the male clerk passes Brown on the way to the door.  

[The female clerk] had just come out of the restroom and returned to the counter, where she observed Brown tell [the male clerk] that he (Brown) wanted several boxes of cigars. As [the male clerk] was placing the boxes on the counter, Brown grabbed a box of Swisher Sweet cigars and handed them to Johnson, who was standing behind Brown. [The female clerk] witnessed [the male clerk] tell Brown that he had to pay for those cigars first.  

That is when Brown reached across the counter and grabbed numerous packs of Swisher Sweets and turned to leave the store. [The female clerk] then calls "911". 

Meanwhile, [the male clerk] comes out from behind the counter and attempts to stop Brown from leaving.     

[Page 6 of 10]

The female clerk's 911 phone call "opened" the police-dispatcher's event at 11:51:57, as documented in the Event Report (Page 15).

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I estimate that the female clerk made the phone call at about 1:18 according to the composite video's clock. Here is the sequence of events. 

* At 0:47, the Monte Carlo driver is paying the female clerk at a cash register (in the background) while Brown hands the first box of cigarillos back to Johnson (in the foreground). Focusing on the driver's purchase, the female clerk is not watching Brown and Johnson.

* At 1:00, the driver is exiting and looking back at Brown, who has accidentally spilled cigarillos from a second box onto the floor.

* At 1:05, Johnson puts the first box of cigarillos onto the counter and begins to leave the store. Brown stoops down to pick the cigarillos up from the floor.

* At 1:18, as Brown continues to look down to the floor for dropped cigarillos, the clerk passes Brown to block the door. The female clerk calls 911.

* At 1:26, the driver is holding the store's door open.

* At 1:28 the driver lets the door go as the clerk blocks Brown's path.

* At 1:32, the driver is opening the Monte Carlo's door.

If my estimate is correct, then 1:18 on the composite video's clock coincides with 11:51:57 on the police dispatch's clock. According to the composite video's clock, Brown exited the store 18 seconds later, at 1:36. Likewise according to the dispatch clock, Brown exited 18 seconds after 11:51:57, which would be at 11:52:15. 

According to the Investigative Report (page 170), Brown and Johnson exited at 11:54:01, so the store video's clock was running about 1:45 ahead of the police dispatch clock. 

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If Brown exited at 1:36 by the store video clock and at 11:52:15 according to the police dispatch clock, the two clocks can be coordinated as follows:

0:00 in the composite video's clock = 11:50:50 in the police dispatch clock
= The Monte Carlo driver enters the store through the front door

0:14 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:04 in the police dispatch clock 
= Brown enters the store through the front door

0:16 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:06 in the police dispatch clock
= Johnson enters the store through the front door

0:13 - 0:25 = a 12-second period in the composite video's clock that is only six seconds in actual time. There is a six-second overlap of the two camera's views in the video composite.  

0:33 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:12 in the police dispatch clock 
= Brown approaches the near counter (where the male clerk works)
= The female clerk enters room from far-right corner and head toward the far counter 

0:44 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:23 in the police dispatch clock
= The Monte Carlo driver approaches far counter to purchase an item
= The female clerk becomes busy with the Monte Carlo driver

0:48 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:27 in the police dispatch clock
= Brown hands a box of cigarillos to Johnson

0:54 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:33 in the police dispatch clock
= The Monte Carlo driver completes his purchase
= The female clerk can begin directing her full attention to Brown and Johnson

1:00 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:39 in the police dispatch clock
= Brown backs away from the counter, holding a box of cigarillos in his left hand and some single cigarillos in his right hand. 
= The Monte Carlo driver is approaching the store's front door on his way out, and he looks back toward Brown.

1:03 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:42 in the police dispatch clock
= The Monte Carlo driver exits the store, but stops and holds the door open. 

1:05 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:44 in the police dispatch clock
= Johnson puts his box onto the counter.

1:08 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:47 in the police dispatch clock
= Brown bends down to pick up the cigarillos from the floor.

1:15 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:54 in the police dispatch clock 
= The male clerk comes from behind his counter with keys in his hand.
= Brown stands up and starts walking toward the door.

1:18 in the composite video's clock = 11:51:57 in the police dispatch clock.
= The male clerk passes Brown on the way to the door.
= The female clerk phones the police dispatcher.

1:20 - 1:32 = a 12-second period in the composite video's clock that is only six seconds in actual time. There is a six-second overlap of the two camera's views in the video composite.  

1:26 in the composite video's clock = 11:52:05 in the police dispatch clock
= The Monte Carlo driver is holding the store's front door open

1:28 in the composite video's clock = 11:52:07 in the police dispatch clock
= The Monte Carlo driver lets the store's front door close

1:29 in the composite video's clock = 11:52:08 in the police dispatch clock 

= The male clerk pulls the door closed.

1:30 in the composite video's clock = 11:52:09 in the police dispatch clock
= Brown shoves the male clerk

1:33 in the composite video's clock = 11:52:12 in the police dispatch clock
= Johnson exits through the door. 

1:36 in the composite video's clock = 11:52:15 in the police dispatch clock
= Brown exits through the door.

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According to the above time list:

* Johnson entered the store at 11:51:06 and exited at 11:52:12, so he was inside the store for 1:06. 

* Brown entered at 11:51:04 and exited at 11:52:15, so he was inside the store for 1:11. 

Johnson's entrance and exit approximates the 1:05 or 1:06 duration indicated in the Investigative Report. 

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After the Monte Carlo driver completed his purchase (0:54 = 11:51:33), the female clerk had about 24 seconds to watch Brown and Johnson until her phone contacted the police dispatcher (1:18 = 11:51:57). Brown exited the store 18 seconds (at 1:36 = 11:52:15) after the female clerk phoned the police dispatcher. 

The store's video clock recorded Brown's exit as occurring at about 11:54:00 (according to the Investigative Report), so that clock was running about 1:45 ahead of the the police dispatch clock. In the rest of this blog, I will use the police dispatch clock. 

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After the Monte Carlo driver exited the store (1:03 = 11:51:42), he stood at its front door and held it open for 25 seconds (until 1:28 = 11:52:07) 


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The police dispatcher talked with the female clerk for about one minute before broadcasting the first dispatcher report at 11:52:53. That time is specified in the Event Report's bottom part, which is labeled Incident Notes.

08/09/2014  11:52:53
white shirt b/m qt, box cigars

(The abbreviation b/m stands for Black male. The abbreviation qt stands for QuikTrip, a store located north of the Market.)

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* The police report identified this woman as a "patron". However, the US Justice Department's report about the shooting identifies her as the male clerk's daughter (Page 26, first paragraph).