This blog analyzes the statements of several people who said that they saw Michael Brown being killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014. These particular people said that Brown was shot dead in the same place where he stopped running away and turned around to face Wilson. The blog analyzes especially the statements of Dorian Johnson, Piaget Crenshaw and Tiffany Mitchell.
At the pretrial hearing of James Fields, case agent Detective Steven Young was cross-examined by Fields' defense attorney Denise Lunsford. The cross-examination (transcript pages 32-43) indicated the following circumstances.
The main reason why why Fields traveled from his Ohio home to Charlottesville, Virginia, was to listen to and perhaps question someone (not identified) who was scheduled to speak at the Unite the Right protest there. Fields did not belong to the group -- called Vanguard America -- that organized the protest.
Fields parked his car -- and perhaps stayed overnight -- at McIntire Park and then walked to Emancipation Park (aka Robert Edward Lee Park). The walk from one park to the other takes about a half hour. After the protest turned into a riot, Fields walked with three other men back to McIntire Park, got into his car, and drove back to the vicinity of Emancipation Park.
The three other men -- who were questioned by investigators after the incident -- said that they did not know Fields previously and that he impressed them as being relatively moderate and mild-mannered compared to most of the Unite the Right protesters.
The men might be able to confirm whether or not Fields' shirt was wet with urine when he parted from them in McIntire Park.
The walk from Emancipation Park to McIntyre Park is shown on the following image from Google Maps.
The walk from Emancipation Park (aka Lee Park) to McIntire Park
This walk makes it unlikely that Fields was supposed to drive onto Fourth Street at a certain time in a conspiracy.
During the pretrial hearing of James Fields that was conducted on December 14, 2017, his defense attorney Denise Lunsford provided indications of his legal defense. When cross-examining case agent Detective Steven Young, Lunsford suggested that Fields' shirt had been soaked with urine a short time before he drove into the crowd.
Defender Lunsford
And when you found him there or when he was there after he had been taken into custody, he appeared to have a yellow stain on his shirt, correct?
Detective Young
That’s correct.
Defender Lunsford
Was anyone able to determine what that was?
Detective Young
As of now, no.
Defender Lunsford
Was there a smell to that stain?
Detective Young
Yes, there was a smell from urine.
(Page 40, lines 8 - 15)
Following Lunsford's cross-examination of Young, prosecutor Nina-Alicia Antony conducted a redirect examination in which she suggested that no urine was thrown onto Fields near the intersection of Fourth Street and Market Street.
Prosecutor Antony
Detective Young, Ms. Lunsford asked you about the smell of the substance that was on Mr. Field’s shirt and you indicated that it smelled of an odor of urine? Detective Young
Correct.
Prosecutor Antony
Is it fair to say there was no evidence during the course of your investigation prior to the crash, of any individual surrounding Mr. Field’s car, throwing anything on him while he was in his car or in the area of Fourth Street and Market? Detective Young
That’s correct. There’s no indication. Prosecutor Antony
And there was no one blocking his egress onto Market once he got to Fourth and the crowd was in front of him?
Detective Young
Correct.
(Page 44, lines 10 - 22)
Fields says urine was thrown onto him
at the intersection of Fourth and Market
The above questioning indicates to me that
* Fields has said that urine was thrown onto him at the intersection of Fourth and Market
* This accusation is denied by the eyewitnesses at the intersection of Fourth and Market
* Fields has said that he was afraid to back up to the corner of Fourth and Market
In a trial of Fields, the credibility of the Fourth-Market eyewitnesses will be challenged by Fields' defense attorney.
=====
The pretrial hearing indicated that after the riot at Emancipation Park (aka Lee Park), Fields walked to McIntire Park -- about a half-hour walk -- where his car was parked. Fields then drove his car back to the downtown area where the protesters were walking around.
If Field' shirt had been soaked with urine during the riot, then he had an opportunity to wash and to put on a clean shirt before he drove back into the downtown area.
Fields walked from Emancipation Park to McIntire Park with three other men. They might be able to confirm that Fields washed and put on a clean shirt before he drove back into town and eventually was arrested wearing a urine-soaked shirt.
Thus the testimony of the Fourth-Market eyewitnesses might be contradicted. If those eyewitnesses lied about the urine, then they might have lied also about other elements of the incident.
=====
Those eyewitnesses were standing at the corner of Fourth and Market and looking south toward Main.
The view from Fourth and Market southward toward Main
(Click on the image to enlarge it.)
It seems from Detective Young's testimony that the eyewitnesses standing at the intersection of Fourth and Market were there for quite a long time. They saw drive ...
* drive into the intersection from Market Street and then turn south onto Fourth Street,
* drive south slowly,
* idle his car for a while,
* perhaps back up once or twice,
* drive into the crowd,
* back up from Water Street to Market Street,
* drive east on Market Street and turn right onto Ninth Street.
Why were those people standing at Fourth and Market for such a long time? Perhaps they knew that they would see something happen on Fourth Street if they kept standing and watching southward from that intersection..Perhaps they knew that their subsequent eyewitness statements about what they saw would be useful to someone.
The the intersection of 4th Street NE and Market Street had two impediments to traffic: a traffic barrier blocking any southward movement on 4th Street NE and an officer and squad car blocking any westward movement on Market Street. The traffic plan called for Officer Jeff Sandridge to man that post.
Late in the week, two developments changed that plan. First, the Incident Management Team advised Captain Lewis that Lieutenant Tito Durrette had too many roles for August 12. Second, Captain Shifflett found out that Officer Tammy Shiflett, a school resource officer, was available to work ...
So on August 11, Lewis replaced Sandridge with Tammy Shiflett .... Officer Shiflett was told about her assignment at Market Street and 4th Street NE, but she did not receive any instruction other than that she would be “doing traffic.” She understood that her role was to prevent “anything coming down [westward on] East Market Street” to Emancipation Park.
Video footage shot around 10:30 a.m. on August 12 shows Officer Shiflett standing at her post next to her squad car in Market Street as scores of Unite The Right attendees streamed past her towards Emancipation Park. The video also shows that the southbound route on 4th Street SE was obstructed by a single wooden sawhorse that spanned only the middle third of the road.
The Review includes the following photograph and caption.
Click on the above image to enlarge it.
The Review discussion of the Fourth-Market intersection continues .
Tammy Shiflett — the school resource officer stationed at 4th Street NE and Market Street — was standing alone with no protective gear. She felt she was in danger. As people started to pass, they made profane and aggressive statements toward her. She smelled pepper spray in the air. Just as Sergeant Handy and his unit arrived at the Market Street garage, Shiflett radioed Captain Lewis and said, “They are pushing the crowd my way, and I have nobody here to help me.” Lewis radioed to Sergeant Handy and instructed him to help Shiflett.
Sergeant Handy and Officer Logan Woodzell started to move towards Shiflett’s location, and Handy radioed Shiflett to walk towards them. Woodzell’s body camera footage shows Shiflett leaving 4th Street and jogging to the two officers. But she forgot to lock her car, so Handy instructed her to go back and move her car. Shiflett hustled back to the car, got in, and moved it out of the intersection to Market Street near the parking garage.
Officer Shiflett ultimately ended up with Lieutenant Jones as he handled the Deandre Harris incident. Lieutenant Jones told us that he was asked by either Handy or Woodzell to let Officer Shiflett stay with him because she did not have any protective gear. Neither Shiflett nor Jones notified the traffic commander or the Command Center that she was no longer a her assigned post at 4th Street NE and Market Street. As a result, all that remained there was a wooden sawhorse barricade.
Why did the police decide to prevent vehicles from driving south on Fourth Street from Market Street to Market Street? Did someone know beforehand that the anti-racism protesters eventually would march north on Fourth Street.
=====
The following photo shows a certain Dwayne Dixon carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle about a block from Fourth Street, where James Field was waiting in his car at least 1:15 minutes before he drove into the anti-racism protesters.
Dwayne Dixon carrying an AR-15 during the Charlottesville incident
The following screenshot of Dixon's Facebook page shows him boasting:
I used this rifle to chase off James Fields from our block of 4th St. before he attacked the marchers to the south.
I used this rifle to chase off James Fields from our block of 4th St.
before he attacked the marchers to the south.
Dixon allegedly has removed that post from his Facebook page.
In his testimony at the preliminary hearing of James Fields on December 14, 2017, case agent Detective Steven Young mentioned that, while on Fourth Street and before driving into the crowd, Fields stopped and idled his car at least once and drove backward at least once.
Young stated that Fields did so because Young wanted to inform the court that Fields drove into the crowd deliberately. The idling and backing up gave Fields time to think about his decision to drive forward into the crowd. From Young's perspective, specifying exactly where and when Fields did the idling was rather irrelevant to the issues of that legal proceeding.
Indeed, when Fields' lawyer, Denise Lunsford, cross-examined Young (pages 32 - 44), she did not ask him to elaborate about the idling or backing up.
=====
However, people who suspect that Fields might have been guided by someone else would like to know more details about the idling and backing up -- where, when, how long, how many times?
Were the idling and backing up related to the presence on Fourth Street of someone who was guiding Fields?
=====
During the preliminary hearing, someone in the courtyard caused a disturbance when Young was testifying about a place where Fields stopped his car and began to back up. While Young is being questioned by the prosecutor Nina-Alicia Antony before Judge Robert H. Downer, Jr.
Young is showing the court the video from the surveillance camera of the Red Pump Kitchen (RPK) restaurant. The video has just shown a white Camry drive past the RPK, followed closely by Fields' car.
Detective Young
And as you can see, he [Fields] proceeds south on Fourth Street onto the crossover and many witnesses said he then made his way to the 100 block of Fourth Street SE, which is where he stopped. Prosecutor Antony
About how long is Mr. Fields Challenger out of view?
Detective Young
Approximately, a minute and ten seconds. Prosecutor Antony
And during this time, had the vehicle struck the crowd yet?
Detective Young
No. At this point, you’ve got many witnesses testify that the Challenger began to back up, assuming that it would head back onto Market Street and leave the area.
Judge Downer
Quiet in the courtroom.
Bailiff
Quiet in the courtroom.
Judge Downer
All right, he needs to go out. All of them.
Detective Young
Your Honor, as you saw, that was the silver Dodge Challenger that drove south at a high rate of speed.
Judge Downer
All right, once again, anybody else who makes a sound like that, out you go. All right.
(Page 31, line 24, through Page 32, line 18)
I suspect that someone in the courtroom audience said something aloud Brennan Gilmore, a suspected character in this incident, who had been standing in the area, described here by Young, where Fields stopped and began to back up.
[Correction on March 1, 2018 -- The courtroom disturbances were not about Gilmore.]
Gilmore made the following video.
During the four months between the incident and the preliminary hearing, a controversy developed about whether Gilmore might have been an accessory to Fields.
Gilmore has said that he was standing in the middle of Fourth Street before this video began. Perhaps Fields stopped there because Gilmore was standing in his way and then drove forward as soon as Gilmore got out of his way.
======
During that disturbance in the court, the RPK video continued to run. Nobody in the court was paying to the video, however, because of the disturbance. After the trouble-makers were removed from the courtroom, Young and the court resumed watching the RPK video. A minute had passed since the disruption began, and so just now the video was showing Fields' car -- after being unseen for 1:10 minutes -- pass by the RPK camera northwards and backwards.
Judge Downer
Quiet in the courtroom.
Bailiff
Quiet in the courtroom.
Judge Downer
All right, he needs to go out. All of them.
[The court resumes watching the RPK video.]
Detective Young
Your Honor, as you saw, that was the silver Dodge Challenger that drove at a high rate of speed.
Detective Young (elaborated)
Your Honor, as you saw, that [the car now driving northwards and backwards in the RPK video] was the silver Dodge Challenger that [during the preceding 1:10 interval] drove at a high rate of speed [into the crowd].
Judge Downer
All right, once again, anybody else who makes a sound like that, out you go. All right.
(Page 32, lines 11 - 18)
In the above passage, I have edited Young's statement to clarify his intended sense.
Again someone in the courtroom audience spoke aloud. During this new disruption, the RPK video continued to run. After the disruption ended, prosecutor Antony showed the RPK's video last part, during which no vehicles were seen. The RPK camera's clock ran 13 minutes fast, so in the below passage I show the correction to real time.
Judge Downer
All right, once again, anybody else who makes a sound like that, out you go. All right.
Prosecutor Antony
I’m pausing and starting again at 1:54:49 [corrected, real time = 1:41:49].
Detective Young, you said it [Fields' car] left view at a high rate of speed? Detective Young
Yes. At this point, many people began to run after Mr. Fields and, at that point, encounter police as they [people on Main Street] ran east towards the police department.
(Page 32, lines 17 - 24)
The RPK video did not show any cars after 1:54:49. The absence of additional cars was demonstrated to the court by running the video to its end.
======
The RPK video showed Fields' car pass by twice (pages 28-31) :
1) driving south when the camera's clock showed 13:52:56 [13:39:56]
[not seen for 1:10 minutes]
2) backing up north when the camera's clock showed 13:54:06 [13:41:06]
A few seconds after the court saw the second passing on the video, the courtroom was disrupted again. After that disruption ended, the video was restarted at 13:54:49 [13:41:49] so that the courtroom could watch the last part, during which no vehicles were seen.
======
If you re-watch the above video made by Gilmore, you will see in the period 0:35-0:38 a black SUV parked along the left side of Fourth Street. That vehicle is a suspected element in this incident, and so Fields' idling or backing up in its vicinity might be relevant.
Watch the following video, made by SonofNewo, from 20:30 to 24:30.
=====
There are no videos (known to the public) that show Fields' car idling or backing up. No such video was shown during the pretrial hearing. Unless Young has seen some such video, his findings that the car idled or backed up are based entirely on eyewitness statements.
Any idlings or backups (other than getaway backup after the drive into the crowd) happened entirely within the areas north or south of the RPK camera's view, which I think covered the area illustrated below.
No backups before Fields drove into the crowd
were seen by the RPK surveillance camera,
which filmed the area marked by the red lines
It's clear from Young's testimony that eyewitnesses said that Fields began to back up at least once in an area south of the Main Street crossover. It's not clear whether eyewitnesses said that Fields also idled there.
It is not clear from Young's testimony whether eyewitnesses said that Fields idled or backed up in the area north of the RPK camera.
Fields did not idle or back up his car within the RPK camera's view before he drove into the crowd.
At the pretrial hearing of James Fields on December 14, 2017, case agent Detective Steven Young testified that the anti-racism protesters decided in the following manner to turn from Water Street left -- i.e. north -- onto Fourth Street.
They were just marching ... simply marching east on Water Street in a celebratory mood. They were singing songs, and there was a sense of victory throughout the crowd.
At Fourth and East Water Street, the crowd came to a halt. There’s a little bit of confusion as far as where they would go next. At one point, someone said, "we always go left", and many people started chanting "go left, go left".
Just before this, a maroon van, a black pick-up truck and a white ragtop sedan made their way south on Fourth Street from Market Street to Water Street. As the crowd converged right there at Fourth and Water, these vehicles were forced to stop. The black pick-up truck parked on the side of the road, whereas the maroon van and the white ragtop sedan, stayed at the intersection on Fourth Street just north of Water Street and they remained there for a few minutes.
(Page 18, line 23, through Page 19, line 14)
The red boxes mark the streets relevant to this discussion.
The Unite the Right protesters had walked east on Water Street and then turned north onto Fifth Street.
The anti-racism protesters likewise walked east on Water Street, far behind the Unite the Right protesters. However, the anti-racism protesters turned north onto Fourth Street.
Third Street and Fifth Street were pedestrian-only streets. Permanent obstacles prevented any vehicle traffic on those two streets.
Fourth Street was a street for vehicles traveling one-way south. The decision to turn north onto Fourth Street enabled Fields to drive south into the crowd of anti-racism protesters.
If the anti-racism protesters had turned north onto pedestrian-only Third Street or onto pedestrian-only Fifth Street, then Fields would not have been able to drive his car into their crowd.
======
Young's testimony indicates that the decision to turn north onto Fourth Street was made spontaneously, simply because someone said "we always go left".
They had to turn left onto narrow, ugly Fourth Street ...
The view north from the intersection of Water and Fourth.
... instead of turning left onto wider, rather beautiful Fifth Street.
The view north from the intersection of Water and Fifth
Obstacles at the intersection of Fifth and Main prevent vehicles from traveling south. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)
======
The following video shows a video that was made by a pedestrian standing on the southern sidewalk of Water Street, about a half-block west of Fourth Street. This pedestrian is pointing his camera westward, toward the protesters who are walking eastward toward Fourth Street.
Watch the following video beginning at 13:00. From that point for the first minute, the protesters are spaced and are walking at a normal pace. Then at about 14:00, the protesters gradually became less spaced and slow down, because the way forward on Water Street past Fourth Street has been impeded by the left turn.
=========
Update on March 5, 2018
The above video is no longer available because YouTube has purged all the files of American Everyman (Scott Creighton), who created and posted it. I'll try to find the video elsewhere or find some other suitable video.
=========
At about 14:45, the protesters come to a complete stop. By this time, the intersection of Fourth and Water has filled with protesters, who are making a slow turn north onto Fourth.
Continue watching the above video to 15:30. The video shows north pointing downward, so I have made a screenshot and flipped it so that north is pointing upward. (Click the image to enlarge it.)
The protesters turning from Water Street north onto Fourth Street
The protesters had been walking east on Water, but their way forward was blocked, so they had to turn north onto Fourth Street.
You might think that their way forward was blocked by the cars on the intersection's east side. However, the protesters had been walking on the street's south side with the flow of traffic. Therefore the protesters' way forward on Water was not blocked by cars or barriers.
Now watch the above video from 21:00 to 21:15. (Keep in mind that north is pointed downward in the video.) As the protesters scatter from the intersection as Fields' car drives into the intersection, you will see that the way forward on Water was not blocked physically.
Again I have flipped a screenshot so that north points upward. As a car enters the intersection from the north, protesters inside the intersection scatter freely toward the east on Water Street.
An a vehicle enters the intersection southward from Fourth Street,
protesters scatter freely eastward onto Water Street
As far as the public knows, no police officers were involved in the decision to turn north onto Fourth Street. The decision was made entirely by someone leading the anti-racism protesters.
I suppose that the police might have asked the anti-racism protesters' leaders to turn north onto Fourth Street in order to keep those protesters separate from the Unite the Right protesters who had turned north onto Fifth Street. If the the police had asked the anti-racism leaders to turn north on Fourth, then the leaders could have simply given that reason to their followers. Instead, however, the reason that the leaders gave was We always turn left.
In the preliminary hearing of James Fields conducted on December 14, 2017, the case agent Detective Young testified that the movement of vehicles on Fourth Street was filmed by a surveillance camera on the Red Pump Kitchen (RPK) restaurant, which is located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Fourth Street and Main Street. While the video is being shown to the court, Young describes the camera's view in the following passage:
This is the silver Dodge Challenger that Fields was driving. And as you can see, he proceeds south on Fourth Street onto the crossover, and many witnesses said he then made his way to the 100 block of Fourth Street SE, which is where he stopped.
The camera's view includes the part of Fourth Street, but does not include the part of Fourth Street that enters into the 100 block. For the latter part, Young had to depend on eyewitnesses.
Below are some photographs of the building's front.
My guess is that the camera is mounted inside the restaurant and looks out the window that is seen in the third photograph. The camera's main purpose is to film people approaching and entering the restaurant.
I imagine that the camera's view is something like the following.
======
The RPK video showed Fields' car twice (pages 28-31) :
1) driving south when the camera's clock showed 13:52:56
2) backing up north when the camera's clock showed 13:54:06
The camera's clock ran "approximately" 13 minutes fast (page 29, line 6). If the clock ran precisely 13:00 minutes fast, then the camera's clock times are corrected as follows.
1) driving south at 13:39:56
2) backing up north at 13:41:06
The backup shown in this video was Fields' backup after he had driven into the crowd, which he had done between 13:40 and 13:41.
Keep in mind that the discrepancy between the RPK camera's clock and real time is only approximately 13 minutes.
======
Young testified:
At one point it [Fields' car] was idling near the crossover on Fourth Street, and this is confirmed through video.
(Page 20, lines 15-17).
If I am correct about the RPK camera's view, then that camera was not the camera that confirmed that idling.
I assume that this particular confirmatory video was made by some pedestrian.
======
Young summarized his evidence sources in the below passage:
There were several sources. From ...
* open-source videos, i.e., Facebook, YouTube,
* as well as private-business surveillance camera footage,
* officers' body-worn cameras
* and speaking to several victims and many witnesses, both at the intersection of Fourth and Water, as well as the intersection of Fourth and Market Street during the incident.
(Page 13, lines 18 - 24; reformatted)
The only private-business surveillance camera that Young mentioned in his testimony was the RPK camera.
Many videos made by pedestrians were posted on Facebook and YouTube, and I suppose that one of those videos happened to show Fields' car idling somewhere on Fourth Street.
======
In the above passage, Young mentioned the importance of witnesses at two intersections:
1) Fourth and Water
2) Fourth and Market
He does not mention witnesses at the intersection of Fourth and Main.
Therefore I speculate that the video confirming that Fields idled his car near the crossover might have been made by a person standing at the intersection of Fourth and Market and filming intermittently southward toward Main Street.
=======
Correction on March 3, 2018
At about 5:38 in the following video, SonofNewo shows where the RPK camera was mounted.
This article follows up my previous article titled James Fields' Backward Movement Before He Drove into the Crowd. One reader responded to me that the journalists who attended the pretrial hearing on December 14, 2017, saw a video there that showed Fields backing up a long distance before he drove into the crowd.
Please read my clarification that follows and then study the hearing transcript.
======
Detective Steven Young's finding that Fields' car backed up before driving into the crowd was based on statements of people who had been standing at the intersection of Fourth Street and Market Street and who had been looking south down Fourth Street.
The backup was reported to police by people
who had been standing at Fourth and Market
Young testified:
There were several sources [of information] -- from open source videos, i.e., FaceBook, YouTube, as well as private business surveillance camera footage, officers' body-worn cameras, and speaking to several victims and many witnesses, both at the intersection of Fourth and Water, as well as the intersection of Fourth and Market Street during the incident.
(Page 13, lines 18 to 24; emphasis added)
Later, Young testified in particular about the statements of the people who had been standing at Fourth and Market.
Many witnesses I spoke to noticed [Fields' car] a gray Dodge Challenger slowly drive on Fourth Street from Market Street towards Water Street at a slow pace. At one point it was idling near the [Main Street] crossover on Fourth Street and this is confirmed through video.
One witness I spoke to actually commented that the Dodge Challenger was an unfortunate driver [who] is stopped here on the downtown mall but [it is a] good thing there’s no one at the intersection of Fourth and Market and that the Dodge can simply back up and leave the area.
Several witnesses claim and confirm through video that no one was at the intersection near Fourth and Market. There were some people but no crowds whatsoever at Fourth and Market, which is where the Dodge Challenger came from.
Many witnesses saw the Challenger back up towards Market Street, thinking that the Challenger would just simply get back onto Market and leave the area.
(Page 20, lines 13 through page 21, line 8; emphasis added)
The above passage is Young's summary of statements made by people who had been standing at the intersection of Fourth and Market. Those people provided important information to Young about what had happened. They ...
... saw the Challenger back up towards Market Street.
(Page 21, lines 5-6; emphasis added)
Those eyewitnesses were Young's only evidence about this particular backup of the car.
There is no video evidence of this particular backup of the car.
======
Two videos were shown in court.
1) A video from the Red Pump Kitchen (RPK) showed cars driving past the restaurant.
2) A helicopter video showed only the southern end of Fourth Street.
The helicopter video shown at the hearing showed Fields' car driving into the crowd (page 23, line 15, through page 25, line 25).
======
The RPK video showed Fields' car twice (pages 28-31) :
1) driving south when the camera's clock showed 13:52:56
2) backing up north when the camera's clock showed 13:54:06
The camera's clock ran approximately 13 minutes fast (page 29, line 6). If the clock ran precisely 13:00 minutes fast, then the camera's clock times are corrected as follows.
1) driving south at 13:39:56
2) backing up north at 13:41:06
The backup shown in this video was Fields' backup after he had driven into the crowd, which he had done between 13:40 and 13:41.
Keep in mind that the discrepancy between the RPK camera's clock and real time is only approximately 13 minutes.
The RPK video showed also each of the other three vehicles (maroon van, black truck, white Camry) driving south past the restaurant one time.
======
At the hearing, there was no video that showed the previous backup that had been described by the people who were standing at the intersection of Fourth and Market.
This distance of that previous backup was not specified by Young in his testimony.
The journalists' reports about the distance (e.g. "more than a block") must have been based on off-the-record statements of an informed official after the hearing.
James Fields drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters on August 12, 2017. Four months later, the preliminary hearing on the charges against Fields was conducted on December 14.
After the hearing, journalists who attended the hearing reported that before Fields drove into the crowd, he backed his car up about a block. For example, The Washington Post reported:
Fields' Dodge approached ... from behind at a moderate speed. It then backed up, traveling more than a block, before accelerating at a rapid clip.
Image is from a SonofNewo video
In my article here, I will clarify that this backward movement took place entirely in the area between Market Street and Main Street.
My annotation of a MapQuest screenshot
=====
The hearing comprised mostly the testimony of the case agent, Detective Steven Young. The hearing transcript has become available on a Scrbd webpage. Nowhere in the transcript does Young say that Fields backed his car up before he drove into the crowd.
======
I summarize Young's testimony as follows.
Young's findings are based mostly on:
* Police body-camera videos of people at the intersection of Fourth Street and Water Street
* Police body-camera videos of people at the intersection of Fourth Street and Market Street
* The video from a surveillance camera mounted on the Red Pump Kitchen, a restaurant located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Fourth Street and Main Street.
* The video from a police helicopter.
After Fields drove into the crowd at the intersection of Fourth and Water, he backed up to the intersection of Fourth and Market. Then Fields drove east on Market Street to Ninth Street, where he turned right.
A police officer wearing a body camera (or more than one such officer) came to the intersection of Fourth and Market and interviewed people there. The people there said that the car had turned right on Ninth Street and so was headed toward Monticello Avenue (a main street to the south).
The police officer sent a radio message about the car's getaway route. A few minutes later, Fields was caught a couple blocks south of Monticello -- near the intersection of Avon Street and Blenheim Street.
=====
The police officer wearing the body camera questioned further the people at the intersection Fourth and Market. They remembered that arrived at the intersection from Market Street and then turned south on Fourth Street. Fields drove slowly south toward Main Street and then backed up, returning toward the intersection. Then Fields resumed driving south on Fourth and stopped and idled near the Main Street crossover.
Young testified:
Many witnesses I spoke to noticed a gray Dodge Challenger slowly drive on Fourth Street from Market Street towards Water Street at a slow pace. At one point it was idling near the [Main Street] crossover on Fourth Street, and this is confirmed through video.
One witness I spoke to actually commented that the Dodge Challenger was an unfortunate driver is stopped here on the downtown mall but good thing there’s no one at the intersection of Fourth and Market and that the Dodge can simply back up and leave the area.
Several witnesses claim and confirm through video that no one was at the intersection near Fourth and Market. There were some people but no crowds whatsoever at Fourth and Market, which is where the Dodge Challenger came from.
Many witnesses saw the Challenger back up towards Market Street, thinking that the Challenger would just simply get back onto Market and leave the area.
All this happened in the area between Market Street and Main Street.
=====
Then Fields resumed driving south, crossed Main Street, and stopped and idled his car south of the Main Street crossover. He idled his car in an area that was not seen by the surveillance camera of the Red Pump Kitchen (RPK).
Young testified that the RPK camera showed the following sequence of events.
13:48:40 -- maroon van drives south past RPK
13:51:55 -- black truck drives south past RPK
13:52:50 -- white Camry drives south past RPK
13:52:56 -- Fields' car drives south past RPK.
The above times are what the RPK clock showed, but the clock was about 13 minutes fast. When that 13-minute discrepancy is corrected, the sequence of events is:
13:35:40 -- maroon van drives south past RPK
13:38:55 -- black truck drives south past RPK
13:39:50 -- white Camry drives south past RPK
13:39:56 -- Fields' car drives south past RPK.
Then, according to Young, Fields' car was not seen for 1:10 minutes. During that interval, Fields' car idled near the Main Street crosswalk and then drove into the crowd and then backed up until it returned into the view of the RPK camera.
Fields' car returned into the RPK camera's view at 13:54:06 according to that camera's clock. When the 13-minute discrepancy is corrected, the time is 13:41:06.
=====
So, Fields' car idled in this area -- close to the crosswalk but out of the RPK camera's view.
The red circle is where Fields idled his car.
Fields idled his car in the area where Brennan Gilmore was standing in the middle of Fourth Street.
After idling his car there, Fields drove south into the crowd and then drove back north, past the RPK camera, and further back to Market Street.
=====
Young testified that Fields' idling his car near the crossover was confirmed by video (transcript page 20, line 17). The video that confirmed that idling cannot be the RPK camera, because the car was out of that camera's view for 1:10 minutes.
The video camera that confirmed that Fields idled his car near the crosswalk is someone else's video camera.
=====
After the pretrial hearing, someone told the journalists that Fields' car backed up a distance that was something like the distance of a city block. If Fields' car actually had backed up such a long distance, then it backed up from 1) somewhere between Main and Water to 2) somewhere between Main and Market.
However, the backup happened entirely in the area between Main and Market, and it happened before Fields crossed Main Street and idled south of Main Street.
In fact, Fields idled his car near where Gilmore was standing in the middle of Fourth Street, and from that proximity Fields drove south into the crowd.
