Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Monte Carlo approached to within four feet of the police vehicle

Both MC Owner and MC Passenger said that the Monte Carlo followed Police Officer Darren Wilson's vehicle westward from the Northwinds Apartment Complex onto Canfield Drive in the Canfield Green Apartment Complex. When Wilson encountered Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson, he drove his police vehicle backward to block Brown's and Johnson's path. Doing so, Wilson inadvertently blocked the Monte Carlo's path too. I think that's a false story.

I, in contrast, think that the Monte Carlo came eastward from Canfield Drive's 3000 block, passed the walking Brown and Johnson, made a U-turn and then drove up close to the police vehicle.


In this article here, I will explain where the Monte Carlo was positioned from the moment when it stopped moving forward until the moment when the first gunshot was fired. 


* The car was not in the middle of the traffic lane, but closer to the curb.

* The car's front driver-side corner was about four feet from the police vehicle.

* The car seats were in line with the sewer. 

* The occupants' heads were at the center of the car's length.

* Their line of sight to Brown was blocked by the SUV's tinted rear windows. 


Blue Line = Monte Carlo's position before the first gunshot.
The occupants' heads were at the cross-bar.

The Monte Carlo's occupants both claimed they, from this position,
 could see, underneath the police vehicle, Brown's feet
moving on the vehicle's far side.
The police vehicle had driven backward and blocked Johnson and Brown. The Monte Carlo made a U-turn. Johnson gathered all the cigarillos and ran away laughing while Brown held the police vehicle's door shut. From their U-turn distance, MC Owner and MC Passenger could see, underneath the police vehicle, Brown's feet moving around on the police vehicle's far side. 

At MC Passenger's request, MC Owner drove the Monte Carlo close to the police vehicle and stopped so that they could listen to Brown and Wilson.  The Monte Carlo could have driven around the police vehicle easily if they had not stopped to listen. 


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The statements below are from the false story that MC Owner and MC Passenger told about following Wilson from Northwinds. I quote them because of the clues about where the Monte Carlo stopped. 

MC Owner told the grand jury that, as she approached the police vehicle, she swerved her Monte Carlo away from that vehicle and toward the curb. 
Prosecutor  When the officer drove back at the diagonal and hit the brake real hard, was he close to hitting your car?
MC Owner  Actually, he was close enough. He was like right there to where I couldn't even move. I thought as it [the police vehicle] was coming -- I was kind of shocked -- if he would have hit my car, but he didn't.
Prosecutor  Were you concerned that he was going came back?
MC Owner Yes, ma'am. I had to swerve over.
[Pages 113 - 114]
The Monte Carlo did not stop in the center of the traffic lane; rather it swerved and stopped closer to the curb. 

That statement of MC Owner should be combined with the statement of MC Passenger that, although the Monte Carlo did not stop "bumper-to-bumper" with the police vehicle, the distance between them was no more than four feet.  


MC Passenger in his testimony to the grand jury described the Monte Carlo's stop as follows:
MC Passenger That's when he [Wilson] came back real fast -- Officer Wilson -- and kind of catty-corner. The [police] car almost hit Mike Brown, and [Brown] jump back.
That's when we were actually behind the police car -- the Monte Carlo.
Prosecutor  So, where would you have been -- the Monte Carlo?
MC Passenger  I know we was right here, by this sewer -- a little bit in front of the [parking lot] entrance right here.
Prosecutor  Could you pass the [police] car, the police truck? Could you pass it?
MC Passenger  No.
Prosecutor  So you were blocked ... behind the police car?
MC Passenger  Yeah.
After that, I couldn't see [Brown] because it's a tinted window on the back of the truck.  
Somehow Mike Brown ended up by the window [on the] driver's side. So the only thing I could see is, under the car. .... From then I was just like seeing Mike Brown feet under the car ... just moving back and forth, and truck starts shaking two or three different times.
[Pages 157 - 159]
Grand Juror  Initially, before you back up, how far apart are your two cars? 
MC Passenger  It's wasn't bumper-to-bumper, but it might have been three or four feet, enough to see under an SUV.   
 [Pages 206 - 207]
In almost all his statements about that location, MC Passenger oriented himself about the sewer -- not around the fire hydrant or the driveway. Evidently, when he looked out his window, he saw prominently the sewer, so the fire hydrant was rather behind his head.

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Michael Brady said in a televised interview that the Monte Carlo was about five feet from the police vehicle.

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A good mental exercise is to look at the above photograph and try to imagine the vehicle movements described by MC Owner and MC Passenger. Johnson and Brown are walking in the middle of the street and Wilson drives backward to block their path. Meanwhile, the Monte Carlo is driving forward and stops because of the police vehicle's backward movement. The two vehicles stop in the indicated positions. 

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