On August 13, four days after the incident, Dorian Johnson was interviewed by a detective of the Saint Louis County Police Department and by an FBI special agent.
Johnson told those two investigators that police officer Darren Wilson fired his first shot from inside his police vehicle and then fired his second shot into Brown's back as Brown was running away. Brown raised his hands above his head, turned around, and tried to tell Wilson that he was unarmed. Wilson walked toward Brown and fired four or more shots into Brown, who fell dead where he had stopped and turned around.
During this interview, Johnson did not realize that his story would be contradicted by forensic evidence. All the autopsies would agree that Brown was not shot in the back. Blood drops and ejected bullet cartridges on the street would show that Brown ran a considerable distance toward Wilson, who was retreating as he fired.
Also, several eyewitnesses indicated that the distance from the start of Brown's charge to his fatal collapse was about 17 yards. I summarized the evidence about Brown's charge in a previous post.
Johnson lied to the two investigators in that August 13 interview as follows:
Because his lies were contradicted so thoroughly by forensic and credible eyewitness evidence, the US Department of Justice's report about the incident summarized Johnson's lack of credibility as follows:
Johnson told those two investigators that police officer Darren Wilson fired his first shot from inside his police vehicle and then fired his second shot into Brown's back as Brown was running away. Brown raised his hands above his head, turned around, and tried to tell Wilson that he was unarmed. Wilson walked toward Brown and fired four or more shots into Brown, who fell dead where he had stopped and turned around.
During this interview, Johnson did not realize that his story would be contradicted by forensic evidence. All the autopsies would agree that Brown was not shot in the back. Blood drops and ejected bullet cartridges on the street would show that Brown ran a considerable distance toward Wilson, who was retreating as he fired.
Also, several eyewitnesses indicated that the distance from the start of Brown's charge to his fatal collapse was about 17 yards. I summarized the evidence about Brown's charge in a previous post.
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| The blood drops tagged 19 and 20 in the foreground are from the middle of Michael Brown's 17-yard charge. The blood from his dead body is in the background. |
... once the second shot touched his [Brown's] body, I know he was hit, because he stopped running. .... He instantly stopped in his tracks. ....When questioned by the investigators, Johnson estimated that Wilson and Johnson were about one car-length apart when Wilson began firing the fatal series of shots. Johnson insisted that Wilson moved toward the standing-still Brown as he fired the fatal shots.
His hands were in the air before he turned around. .... Both his hands were above his head. ....
Big Mike turns around to face the officer, and now the officer is face-to-face with Big Mike ....
I know he [Brown] tried to talk to the officer, and he tried to get out a second sentence. Before he could get out the second sentence, the officer then fired several more shots -- more than four. ....
My friend went all the way down in the fatal position.
[Pages 18 - 20]
Investigator He [Brown] turns around, hands up, and what happens?
Johnson Him and the officer are now face-to-face ....
Investigator A car length [apart] roughly?
Johnson Yes, but the officer is preceeding. He's still moving, but not in a fast pace anymore. He [Wilson ] is moving towards Big Mike.
Big Mike started to say he was unarmed and didn't have a gun, and he started to get another sentence out. Before he can get the full length of his sentence out, the officer fired several more shots. .....
While the shots were going, he [Wilson] was moving forward towards Mike. After the fatal shot, he [Wilson] stopped. ....
Investigator Mike stops running, He puts his hands up, and he turns around. Is that a correct statement?
Johnson After the second shot [hitting Brown in the back], all of that happened. ....
Investigator From that point right there -- Mike's standing there facing the officer, hands up in the air -- how far is it from that point right there to the point where Mike goes down on the ground?
Johnson It's not far. He couldn't run or make a full step, so much as a studder-step, because he's being shot repeatedly. .... He cannot do anything.
Investigator Does he move at all? ... Can you give me a distance?
Johnson .... He [Brown] didn't take a full step. He couldn't.
Investigator So, he didn't even take a full step?
Johnson He didn't take full step. He started to [take a step], probably. It didn't. No.
Investigator Fair enough. That's all I needed to know. ... You saw the officer moving toward Mike, right?
Johnson Correct.
Investigator At any point did you see Mike moving towards the officer?
Johnson No, sir. .... This is the time he [Brown] is trying to talk to the officer. I wouldn't suspect anyone to walk up on an officer who just shot them. He did not try to walk back up on the officer. No, sir.
[Page 37, 41, 43]
Because his lies were contradicted so thoroughly by forensic and credible eyewitness evidence, the US Department of Justice's report about the incident summarized Johnson's lack of credibility as follows:
Material parts of Witness 101′s account are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence, internally inconsistent from one part of his account to the next, and inconsistent with other credible witness accounts that are corroborated by physical evidence. ...
Accordingly, after a thorough review of all the evidence, federal prosecutors determined that material portions of Witness 101's account lack credibility and therefore determined that his account does not support a prosecution of Darren Wilson.
[Page 47]Because Johnson did not see the killing, he imagined what happened and pretended that he actually saw the imagined actions.
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