Sunday, April 5, 2015

Two Places Where a Monte Carlo Was Seen

At the end of my previous article, I pointed out that the clock of the Ferguson Market and Liquor store's closed-circuit television system (CCTV) ran about one minute and 45 seconds (1:45) ahead of the clock of the Ferguson Police Department's dispatcher system. In the following section, I have corrected the Market's clock times accordingly. 

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According to the Investigative Report (page 170), the Market's closed-circuit television camera recorded the following sequence of events in the parking lot:

1) An African-American man got out of a white Monte Carlo and walked into the Market at  11:51:31. 

2) Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson – walked into the Market at about 11:51:06.

3) Johnson and Brown walked out of the store at 11:52:12

4) Johnson briefly stopped and faced an unknown male in the camera’s view. Brown and Johnson walked away from the store, out of the camera’s view. 

5) The Market's male clerk came outside at 11:52:29.

6) The Monte Carlo drove away from the store and out of the camera’s view at 11:52:43.

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The Investigative Report says exactly this (my time corrections in brackets):
A disc labeled Cam 01 parking lot, identified as footage from an exterior CCTV [closed-circuit television] camera, capturing the apparent front parking lot of the Ferguson Market was reviewed. The disc contained nine still images consistent with the description of Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson. The disc also contained camera footage of both Brown and Johnson exiting the store, which can be summarized as follows: 
Still images 1-3, date and time stamp (8/9/2014, 11:52:56 am), Brown and Johnson approaching the front door of the business. [Brown entered at 11:51:04 and Johnson entered at 11:51:06.] 
Still images 4-5, date and time stamp (8/9/2014, 11:54:01 am), Brown and Johnson exiting the business [Johnson exited at 11:52:12, and Brown exited at 11:52:15], Johnson briefly stops and faces an unknown male before continuing away from the business. 
Still images 6-9, Brown and Johnson walking east into the parking lot out of view. 
The moving footage captured from the camera depicts an apparent white Chevrolet, Monte Carlo, with front end damage, operated by an unknown black male. Based on the footage, the male enters the business just prior to Brown and Johnson and exited within seconds prior to Brown and Johnson. This male did not appear to be with Brown and Johnson; he appeared to be a customer who most likely witnessed the events that occurred inside. The white Monte Carlo leaves the parking lot at approximately 11:54:28 [11:52:43] am.
In addition, a male employee of the business could be seen exiting the business at approximately 11:54:14 [11:52:29] am.
[Page 170]
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The case documents released to the public do not identity the African-American male driving the white Monte Carlo in the Market's parking lot, but the documents do provide some information about the African-American female and male occupying the white Monte Carlo that stopped near Police Office Darren Wilson's vehicle on Canfield Drive at about 12:00:30 p.m

The Monte Carlo on Canfield Drive at noon was occupied by two people: 

1) The driver was a 33-year-old African-American female. The grand jury designated her as Witness 32, and the US Department of Justice designated her as Witness 133. I will call her MC Owner.

The passenger was a 29-year-old African-American male. The grand jury designated him as Witness 13, and the US Department of Justice designated him as Witness 123. I will call him MC Passenger

On that day, MC Owner was staying in a home on the 300 block of Canfield Drive -- in the home of a friend of MC Owner's mother.


The red lines show the white Monte Carlo's hypothetical drive
from the Ferguson Market and Liquor store to the 300 block of Canfield Drive,
where the Monte Carlo's owner was staying on August 9, 2014.
I speculate:

1) During the time when Brown and Johnson were robbing Ferguson Market, MC Owner was at her acquaintance's home (the home of her mother's friend) in the 300 block of Canfield Drive. 

2) MC Passenger (or some other man) had borrowed the white Monte Carlo and had driven to Ferguson Market to meet Brown and Johnson. Perhaps MC Passenger intended to get some or all of the purchased 60-count box of cigarillos from Johnson. 

3) When the purchase went amiss because a lot of individual cigarillos spilled onto floor and Brown stooped to pick them up, MC Passenger signaled to Johnson and Brown to leave the store immediately. 

4) MC Passenger drove back to the 300 block of Canfield Drive. On the way, he might have paused along the street to talk with Johnson and Brown, but he did not let them into the car. 

5) A short time later, MC Passenger moved into the Monte Carlo's passenger seat, and MC Owner got into the driver's seat and drove the Monte Carlo further east on Canfield Drive. 

6) After the Monte Carlo had passed Johnson and Brown walking on Canfield Drive, MC Passenger and MC Owner noticed in the rear-view mirrors that Johnson and Brown had been stopped by a police vehicle. Therefore, MC Owner turned the Monte Carlo around and approached the police vehicle.

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