Brady saw Johnson sitting in the Monte Carlo

Michael Brady did not see Dorian Johnson got into the Monte Carlo -- even though Brady said later that he did see Johnson doing so. Brady was inside his apartment fussing with his cell phone when Johnson got into the Monte Carlo. He resumed watching the incident during the last four gunshots. 

By the time I gets to the [sliding glass] door, I notice I forgot my phone in the bedroom. So, I go back, grab my phone and then goes back to the front door, which didn't take long, just seconds. 

But about the time I gets outside, I see Mike Brown. He's now facing the officer, kind of bent down like he was hit in the stomach. He had both arms wrapped around his stomach, and he's bent down, like he was going down. ... The officer lets out four or five more shots. And when he hits the ground. [Pages 7 - 8]

Fiancee Brady did see Johnson getting into the Monte Carlo. When police officer Darren Wilson began firing the final series of gunshots, she immediately focused on pushing her three sons from the balcony back into the apartment. At that moment, she stopped watching the incident.  

She told Michael that while she was standing on the balcony, she saw Johnson get into the Monte Carlo. Later, Michael fibbed to investigators that he himself saw Johnson getting into the Monte Carlo after Brown had fallen dead. 

Although Michael Brady did not see Johnson getting into the Monte Carlo, he did see Johnson sitting inside the Monte Carlo. 

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Michael Brady told a detective on August 13 that he -- without any doubt at all -- saw Johnson hop into the Monte Carlo.  

Brady  The friend [Johnson] just ducks behind the first car that was parked off to the side, which is like a two-door Monte Carlo. … hiding behind the trunk of the car, of the two-door, white Monte Carlo. ….

The passenger door was open. …. I see him kinda hops in.

Detective  Did you see him get inside the car?

Brady  Yeah, he did.

Detective  He did get inside the car?

Brady  He did. He did. …..

Detective  His buddy with the dreadlocks? 

Brady  Yeah.

Detective  He got into the car, the white Monte Carlo?

Brady  Yeah, the white Monte Carlo, because the door was open. …

Detective  Did you see this guy get into the car?

Brady  Yeah, I did see that. … The door was open. …. I guess after when he [Wilson] got done shooting, I guess whoever that was driving [the Monte Carlo) told him [Johnson], “Let’s go”, because he’s afraid for his life. I’m sure of that.

Detective  So, you’re positive he got in the car and he left in that car?

Brady  Yeah.

Detective  Where are you at?

Brady  Now I’m outside .... on my balcony.

[Pages  2-3, 5-7, 12-13, 15]

I think, however, that Michael Brady himself did not see Johnson jump into the Monte Carlo. Rather, his fiancée told him that she had seen Johnson do so. Confident that she had told him the truth, Michael Brady assured investigators that he himself had seen Johnson do so. 

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Michael Brady was interviewed by an FBI special agent on September 17. In this interview Brady wavered when he was pressed for details about Johnson jumping into the Monte Carlo. For example, the FBI special agent asked how Brady could watch both Johnson and Brown at the same time. Brady tangled himself trying to explain a sequence of events that he did not actually see happen at the Monte Carlo. Below is a short excerpt from a long discussion about the actions at the Monte Carlo. Under the pressure of probing questions, Brady admitted briefly that he did not actually see Johnson get into the Monte Carlo.  

FBI SA  Let me ask you. When you were watching the guy with the dreads behind the vehicle, as he was going to the passenger side, did you then leave from your view [i.e. leave the bedroom window] as he [Johnson] is going to the passenger side?

Brady  No, no no. I could see him clear. He [Johnson] didn't hop in until, I think, he [Johnson] noticed that his friend [Brown] now did hit the ground [-- after Brady had exited the front door onto the balcony]. 

FBI SA  Did you actually see him hop in the vehicle?

Brady  No, I really didn't, because when he [Wilson] passed [the Monte Carlo], I more started focusing on the guy [Brown] that he [Wilson] was shooting at now. .... 

FBI SA  They [Johnson and Brown] are ... at different areas of the street, right?

Brady  Yes.

FBI SA  Okay. Your intention [focus] is initially on who?

Brady  It is on both of them. .... The guy with the dreads was the main focus, as I'm still noticing that the officer is shooting straight [at Brown's back], but I'm looking at him [Johnson] because I'm thinking the officer is -- there is a ... pause right there during his [Wilson's] shooting, when I was thinking he [Wilson] was going to go to his [Brown's] friend [Johnson] and shoot him [Johnson]. That's why I was mainly focusing on him [Johnson] at that point.    

[Pages 32 - 34] 

When Brady came out onto the balcony, he did not see Johnson any more, but did notice the Monte Carlo with its passenger door open. Brady assumed that Johnson was inside the Monte Carlo.  

FBI SA  What happened when you got outside [onto the balcony]? What was the kid with the dreads doing? Did you see him?

Brady   I really stopped paying attention to him. I did notice that the passenger-side door was open on that car, but I stopped paying attention to him [Johnson]. 

I started focusing on Mike Brown, because now he's dead, and the officer started walking towards him with the gun. ....

FBI SA  I notice in some of your previous statements, you said that the kid had just got in the car and the car had driven off. 

Brady  I think that was maybe right around when he [Johnson] saw his friend [Brown] die, hit the ground.  

FBI SA  Did you actually see the kid with the dreads get in the car or did you assume he got in the car?  

Brady  I assume that, because the car was gone right after that. .... I figure that he hopped in and asked to pull off. 

I stopped paying attention [to Johnson] when he [Wilson] walked past him [Johnson]. ...

[When Wilson walked past the Monte Carlo] I couldn't see Mike Brown .... He was out of my view at the time. .... That was my opportunity to go outside [onto the balcony].

[Pages 48 - 51] 

Eight days later, on September 25, testifying to the grand jury, Brady avoided saying that he saw Johnson actually getting into the Monte Carlo. Rather, Brady indicated that one moment he saw Johnson outside the car and then in a later moment he saw him sitting inside the car.   

Prosecutor  Did you ever see Dorian get in the ... white Monte Carlo? Did it appear to you he got in the car?

Brady  Yes, I saw him. He's in the car about the time that Mike Brown's body hit the ground. 

Prosecutor  Do you actually see him in the car or you are assuming?

Brady  Yeah [I am assuming]. I see him in the car, kind of sitting, when I see his [Brown's] body laying there, and it is done and over with.  

I see two more cops come there. Probably a little bit before that [before the arrival of the two more cops] is when I noticed Dorian had left, the white car left. 

[Pages 24 - 25]

Prosecutor  You said you thought Dorian got into the car. Where would he have gotten in? In the passenger's front?

Brady  Yeah, he would have got in through the passenger's front door. The door was open. I didn't see nobody in the front other than somebody in the driver's seat. 

Prosecutor  So you thought Dorian got in that front passenger seat?

Brady  Yes. 

Prosecutor  I want to make sure we are clear on this. Are you just assuming that he got in the car because he was right there and then suddenly you didn't see him?

Brady  I seen him get inside, but I didn't see him make a conversation with the person that was in. 

I know when I got to the ground [outside the apartment building], the car was gone.

Prosecutor  Right. You got to the ground after it was all over?

Brady  Yeah ....

[Pages 51 - 52]

In the above passages, Brady essentially evaded the questions. 

When asked in the first passage whether he saw Johnson get into the car, he answered that Johnson was in the car about the time that Mike Brown's body hit the ground. 

When asked again in the second passage, he answered that I seen him get inside but I didn't see him make a conversation with the person that was in. With this answer, Brady meant that he merely glimpsed Johnson getting into the Monte Carlo. The glimpse was so short that Brady did not see even the preceding moment when Johnson must have asked the driver for permission to get in. 

That second statement -- I saw him get inside -- was a fib, repeating his previous fibs. Brady did not see Johnson getting into the Monte Carlo.

Brady did see, however, Johnson sitting in the passenger seat right after Brown fell dead. Brady saw two persons sitting in the car's front seats -- the driver and Johnson.