Johnson tried to get Into the Monte Carlo

MC Owner, MC Passenger and Dorian Johnson all testified that Johnson asked to get into the Monte Carlo but was denied permission. 

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MC Owner was interviewed briefly (8½ minutes) by a detective of the Saint Louis County Police Department on August 9, about seven hours after the incident. Her story included the following elements:

* After the police vehicle backed up and cut off his path, Dorian Johnson backed away from the vehicle but remained in its vicinity. After the first gunshot, Johnson and Brown ran away at about the same time. 

* After she saw Police Officer Darren Wilson come out from behind his police vehicle, she ducked down in her car. She peeked up briefly, just enough to see Wilson walk past her car.

* Then, while she remained ducked down, Dorian Johnson tried to get into her car. (She did not say whether he actually did get into her car.)

* When Johnson was trying to get into her car, she sat up and looked into her car's rear-view mirror. Then she saw, in that mirror, Brown being shot in the street.

* Leaving the scene, she drove around Wilson's police vehicle and almost collided with an arriving police vehicle.

MC Owner never mentioned MC Passenger in this interview.

Following are excerpts from that first interview, about seven hours after the incident.

Detective  Alright. From that point, you're behind the police vehicle. 

You see these kids [Brown and Johnson] walking. Describe how they were walking down the street. 

MC Owner  Actually, they was walking in the middle. .... Once he [Wilson] stopped his vehicle, I didn't hear or seen anything .... I just saw the one young man [Johnson] that was with him, with the deceased suspect [Brown], who was on the police vehicle's far side]. 

I saw him [Johnson]. He was a brown-skinned guy. He was kind of short, kind of thin, with dreads. .... When I saw him like in [at] the back of the truck, he was, like, looking but didn't know what was going on. .... 

I see the young man with the dreads, like, back [away]. ..... I see him now come from the back [end of the vehicle]. 

Like, he was trying to see what was going on, like it was a struggle.  .... 

Once that had happened, I heard the gunshot. I heard one shot. ....

After I heard the gunshot, I seen the suspect [Brown], that got shot, back away from the truck. .... He was amazed, or whatever.  

After I seen that, I seen when the young man and the other man preceded to take off running toward Glen Owen [i.e. east].  

In the process of them running now, I'm down because I heard a gunshot. So, I'm terrified.  

Once I see the police officer get out of the car, that's when I instantly ducked. I ducked for a minute, but I saw him [Wilson] run past.  I was up [just] enough to see him [Wilson] run past, when I had ducked down.   

When I ducked down, that's when I seen the young man with the dreads come on the side of my car, on the passenger [side], trying to get in. He was trying to get in because I was stuck right there. I was actually stuck, so he's ducking down but actually trying to get inside. 

After he did that, I looked up. Now by this time I'm looking up because I'm terrified. Now I'm looking up in my rear-view mirror. That's when I see the young man [Brown]. He already ran past and then the police officer ran past. So, when I looked up, I saw the young man turn. He was facing the police officer. He was towards the police officer. .... 

In my rear-view mirror .... [description of Brown being shot] 

I  never seen nothing like that in my life. I just end up proceeding to get away. In the process of me getting away, another [police] truck came to me and almost hit me head on ... with the police car. 

So..l'm up in the grass by now ... on the curb. I just took off. I just speeded down the street. .... After that I was just terrified, and I just got away. 

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In her interview with an FBI special agent on October 13, MC Owner still said that Johnson ran away from the police vehicle after the first gunshot, but now she said Johnson ran away before Brown did.  

MC Owner  I saw the one with the dreads come back [from the police vehicle]. When he came back, kind of like hesitant, that's when I saw Michael Brown at the [police] car, and then that's when they proceed to take off. 

Prosecutor  Together?  

Actually, the one with the dreads kind of got away just a little bit extra. 

[Page 100]

In this interview, MC Owner told investigators for the first time that she had a passenger in her car. She said her passenger opened his door so that he could lean down and out. Through that opened door, Johnson crawled at least partially into the car. She and MC Passenger told him only "get down" (not "get out"). 

FBI SA  At any point did you open your car door?

MC Owner  Oh, no, ma'am, I did not open up my driver's side of the car.

FBI SA  How about [MC Passenger]? Did he open his door? 

MC Owner  Yes, ma'am, he did. ... to get down. We were scared, terrified. ... I know he [MC Passenger] was hanging outside of the car, trying to get shelter. ... 

I was down, my whole head was in the passenger seat. So I'm almost on [MC Passenger's] lap. 

My hand is on the steering wheel, my feet is on the brake, I couldn't even put my car in park. That's how quick it happened. I just ducked down. ....

FBI SA  At what point did the guy with the dreads come over to the car?

MC Owner  When I was down, I did open up my eyes. I was still down, and that's when I saw the young man with the dreads, where [MC Passenger] had the door open, had it slung open. He [Johnson] was on the curb, but he had crawled. He [Johnson] was in the car, and he just basically asked me could I get him away from here because it is crazy. ....

FBI SA  So the passenger door is kind of opened?

MC Owner  It's opened wide. ....

I told him [Johnson] to get down. .... That was the only thing that came to my mind, just get down.

FBI SA  Obviously, you didn't let the guy with the dreads in your car.

MC Owner  No, sir, I did not.

FBI SA  Why was it that you wouldn't let him in your car?

MC Owner Actually, I didn't know what was going on, for one. I didn't have a clue, just didn't know. It wasn't something that I was willing to do. ... I didn't know if he had a gun. ....

FBI SA  Do you know if he stayed there or he went elsewhere?

MC Owner  Actually, [he stayed there] just for a few minutes. After I told him no, he disappeared. I don't know where he went. I wasn't focusing on him. I was trying to see what was going on. ....

FBI SA  Did you guys say, "you can't get in the car"?

MC Owner  No, ma'am, I did not. [I said:] "Get down." That was it.

FBI SA  How did you let him know that you weren't letting him in the car?

MC Owner  Actually, for one, I wasn't moving it at the time, so he wasn't going to go anywhere anyway.

FBI SA  Did say anything to him?

MC Owner  Just "get down". We [MC Owner and MC Passenger] both just hollered the same thing: "get down".

[Pages 85 - 92]

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MC Passenger in his interview with investigators stated the following sequence of events:

* Immediately after the first gunshot, he and MC Owner opened their car doors. She drove the Monte Carlo backward about four or five feet -- less than a full car-length. While the Monte Carlo was backing up, there were no cars behind them. 

* Between the first and second gunshots, Brown ran past the Monte Carlo. 

* When the second gunshot was fired, MC Passenger leaned down and out the passenger-side door and noticed Johnson crouching there.  

* Soon after the second gunshot, Wilson appeared coming around the police vehicle's back side. When MC Owner and MC Passenger saw him, they both ducked lower. 

* From then until Brown stopped running away, MC Passenger focused on Johnson. Eventually MC Passenger looked back at Brown right after Brown stopped running and was turning around to face Wilson.  

* Right after Brown fell dead, MC Owner turned his attention back to Johnson, who asked to get into the Monte Carlo.

* MC Passenger told Johnson he could not get in. That's when MC Owner closed her driver-side door. 

* MC Passenger ordered MC Owner to drive away, around Wilson's police vehicle, and she did so. MC Passenger kept his passenger-side door open. 

* After the Monte Carlo drove around Wilson's police vehicle, MC Passenger got out of the Monte Carlo. 

MC Passenger told the investigators: 

MC Passenger  I heard one shot. That's when I told the young lady [MC Owner] to back up and open the doors, because I didn't know when the next shot was going to come. ... 

By the time we actually stopped -- that's when Mike had left and ran on her side of the door, going towards the yellow line ... he came up out of his shoe. .... He was breathing heavy. 

When he ran past the door, I heard another shot. .... So, we ducked down, and that's when I saw Dorian. I don't know where he came from, because he was all the way over here [pointing toward 9391 Canfield Drive]. I don't even know how he came all the way around. ....

From there -- I would say about four, five, six seconds -- that's when the officer came. He didn't look our way. ....

Dorian asked to get in the car, and I'm like [to Johnson]: "No, I don't even know you."

I'm like [to MC Owner]: "Go and pull off". So, we [drive] right on the side of the police car, right there in the grass. 

[Pages 4-5] 

MC Passenger noticed Johnson by the Monte Carlo at the moment when the second gunshot was fired.

Detective  So, the second shot goes off. Tell me one more time what Mike does. 

MC Passenger  ... I didn't know if he [Brown] actually got hit from that second shot, because my eyes came back right  here [out the passenger-side door] to duck. That's when I see Dorian. He just still right there. 

Detective  You took your eyes off Mike, and you were focused on Dorian then, at least momentarily? 

MC  Passenger  [unintelligible] when that second shot. Yeah. 

We're just ducking down and looking, because we didn't know where it was going to go. About four or five seconds from there, he [Wilson] pursued [Brown]. 

From the second shot, [we were] ducking. That's when I seen Dorian .... 

[Pages 17 - 18]

MC Passenger focused on Johnson while Brown continued to run away. (In reality, this was when MC Passenger climbed into the back seat while Johnson got in the car and crouched in front of the passenger seat. After Johnson hid down in that position, MC Passenger looked out the car's back window and saw Brown turning around.)

Detective  When your attention was drawn to Dorian, was Michael running away from you still or had he already turned around? 

MC Passenger  He [Brown] was still going the other way.

Detective  And by the time your attention was drawn back [from Johnson to Brown], he [Brown] was still going away from you? 

MC Passenger  I guess Wilson said something to him [Brown], and he [Brown] turned around.  .... 

[Page 34]

After Brown fell dead, Johnson asked to get into the Monte Carlo. MC Passenger refused permission but did not close his passenger-side door. MC Owner did close her driver-side door. The Monte Carlo drove around Wilson's police vehicle, and then MC Passenger got out. 

MC Passenger  He [Brown] falls on the ground on his arm. 

Detective  And what does the officer [Wilson] do?

MC Passenger  From then on, I stopped looking [at Wilson]. I was worried about him [Johnson], because he asking about getting in the car. 

I said [to Johnson], "No" ....

Detective  Was Dorian saying anything to you?

MC Passenger  He just said, "Can I get in?" and I said, "No." ....

Detective  Did your doors stay open the whole time during this? When did you close your car doors?

MC Passenger  She [MC Owner] end up closing her when I told him [Johnson] he couldn't get in. [She] closed her side [and] went by the [Wilson's] police car. When we pulled to the side of the police car, that's when the policies [backup police officers] came. Then I got out. 

[Pages 24-25, 27] 

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