A 27-year-old bi-racial male doing a repair project watched the incident from a house (not an apartment building) that was located on Canfield Drive. The grand jury designated him as Witness 10, and the US Justice Department designated him as Witness 102. I will call him House Repairman.
Despite his distance from the incident, the Justice Department's report about the killing declared that he was a credible witness.
... all of Witness 102's statements were materially consistent with each other, with physical and forensic evidence, and with other credible witness accounts. Witness 102 does not have a criminal history. Therefore, if called as a defense witness in a prosecution of Darren Wilson, this witness's account would not be vulnerable to meaningful cross-examination. Accordingly, after a thorough review of all the evidence, federal prosecutors determined his account to be credible and likewise determined that a jury appropriately would credit his potential testimony.
[Pages 28 - 29]House Repairman saw Michael Brown struggling through the police vehicle's window but did not see Dorian Johnson at the police vehicle during that struggle. (Johnson already had run away from the police vehicle before House Repairman began watching.) House Repairman did not see Johnson get into the Monte Carlo.
House Repairman provided a unique eyewitness description of the Monte Carlo's departure from the scene.
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| HR = House Repairman PV = Police Vehicle MC = Monte Carlo |
In an interview with two Saint Louis County Police Department detectives on August 11, 2014, two days after the incident, House Repairman indicated that the Monte Carlo turned left and thus stayed inside the Canfield Green apartment complex rather than drive into the residential area where he himself was working.
It was a blue Monte Carlo, a newer model Monte Carlo two-door. It was closer [than the police vehicle] to the scene where the [fatal] shooting was at that occurred.
They [the Monte Carlo occupants] then drove off and made a left into the apartments and drove around the apartment and then came and stopped.
[Page 5]Later in that same, House Repairman elaborated about the Monte Carlo. He said that he saw only a male driver in the Monte Carlo when it subsequently drove around the apartment building.
Detective Do you know how many people were in that car or who was driving?
House Repairman No, I’m not sure. I just seen a driver from a distance. I couldn’t get a description. I know he was a black African-American.
Detective You said he, so it was a male in the car?
House Repairman Yeah, it was a he.
Detective Okay. Do you know if there was anybody else in the car?
House Repairman No, I’m not sure.
Detective Alright. And the individual with the dread locks …. He went where?
House Repairman The first point was I seen him [Johnson] with the suspect [Brown] when they were still alive together. [House Repairman had seen Johnson walking with Brown to the store, before noon.]
The next time I seen him was when after everything already took place where Mr. Brown was fatally injured and he [Johnson] came from nowhere and ran across the street. It would be at the point where he ran across will be in front of the squad car. …..And, he cuts across and yells “They killed him, they killed him.”
I’m not sure if he -- at that point when he was yelling --[was] at the blue Monte Carlo, was at the same point. I’m not sure if he was just yelling it, just to be yelling it, or if he was telling them in the car that they killed him. And [I’m not sure] that he never entered their car or went up to that car. He was just yelling.
And he ran up through the back fields of Canfield.
[Pages 13 - 14]
To understand this passage fully, keep in mind that House Repairman was talking about three occasions when he did see or might have seen the Monte Carlo.
1) He saw the Monte Carlo when it was stopped near the police vehicle during the shooting incident.
2) He saw the Monte Carlo when, after the fatal gunshots, it turned left off of Canfield Drive and drove around Building 18.
3) He thought – but was not sure – that he might have seen the Monte Carlo again at the same area on Canfield Drive a while later, when Johnson returned to Canfield Drive and yelled. House Repairman said, "I’m not sure if he [Johnson] -- at that point when he was yelling --[was] at the blue Monte Carlo, was at the same point."
I think that House Repairman had the second of those occasions in mind when he told the detective that only a male driver was in the Monte Carlo. The second occasion was perhaps the only occasion when he was close enough to the Monte Carlo that he could discern the car’s occupants.
If so, then the male passenger must have taken over the driving role before the Monte Carlo turned left off of Canfield Drive. At the same time, the female driver must have moved to another seat and ducked down so that she was not visible. The moment when the male and female switched places must have been when the car was on lawn, was driving around Wilson’s police vehicle, and was confronted by police vehicles arriving from the west to the scene. MC Passenger testified that in this particular situation he got out of the Monte Carlo and looked back at Wilson standing over Brown’s body – “I ended up getting out [of the Monte Carlo], you know, to look back and whatnot”.
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In contrast to House Repairman's observations, MC Passenger told investigators that the Monte Carlo drove far away immediately, while the backup police cars were arriving.
Detective Where did you guys go?
MC Passenger Right up Ferguson [Avenue], while all the rest of them [backup police cars] came. It's a long street, on the side of Ferguson Market -- that street, Ferguson [Avenue].
[Page 5]MC Passenger told the grand jury that the Monte Carlo drove straight on Canfield Drive, turned left onto West Florissant Avenue and right onto Ferguson Avenue. Then MC Owner drove him directly to his home in Pagedale (about five miles southwest).
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| The passenger said the Monte Carlo drove out Canfield Drive while the backup police cars still were arriving. He said the Monte Carlo eventually drove him west on Ferguson Avenue, on the way to Pagedale, where he lived. |
Prosecutor Did you drive straight out Canfield to West Florissant?
MC Passenger Yeah. ….
Prosecutor After you left the scene, where did you guys go?
MC Passenger … I told her [MC Owner] to take me home. We went up on the side …. of Ferguson Market. Is that Ferguson [Avenue] or something like that?
Prosecutor So you went out to West Florissant, then you make a left?
MC Passenger [We] made a left and quick right by that store [Ferguson Market and Liquor] …. And went on out to Pagedale.
[Pages 190 - 191].
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