The Sequence of Events on Canfield Drive

Police Officer Darren Wilson estimated in his testimony to the grand jury that the entire incident lasted less than one minute.

Prosecutor  How many minutes or seconds from  the time that you saw them walking down the street until Michael Brown is dead in the street? 

Wilson  I would say less than one minute. 

Prosecutor  Less than one minute?  

Wilson  Uh-huh [yes].  

[Page 272]

Wilson estimated the same one-minute duration also in earlier statements to investigators. 

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Near-Sighted and MC Passenger estimated that the confrontation between Wilson and Michael Brown at the police vehicle lasted about about 15 seconds. I will use their estimates. Near-Sighted said also that Dorian Johnson ran away very early in that 15-second period. 

According to the dispatcher's Event Report (page 17), Wilson's initial call about his encounter occurred at 12:01:50 ("Open"), and Policeman McDonald arrived at the scene 32 seconds later, at 12:02:22 ("Arrival"). Policeman McDonald said he heard the final four gunshots when he was driving through Canfield Drive's 3000 block. I will estimate that he heard the gunshots at around 12:02:15.

Combining the above times provides the following rough one-minute time-line:

THIS ARTICLE WILL BE RE-WRITTEN, AND THE TIME-LINE WILL BE ADJUSTED.

12:01:15 = Wilson encounters Johnson and Brown walking in street

12:01:20 = Wilson drives backward and blocks Johnson and Brown

12:01:25 = Brown begins 15-second attack on Wilson. Johnson walks backward to curb.

12:01:30 = Johnson runs away.

12:01:35 = Strange, loud noise at police vehicle attracts attention

12:01:40 = Wilson fires first gunshot from inside police vehicle

12:01:43 = Brown runs away from the police vehicle

12:01:45 = Wilson fires second gunshot from inside his police vehicle

12:01:50 = Wilson, sitting in his police vehicle, calls the dispatcher

12:01:55 = Wilson begins chasing Brown down the street

12:02:15 = final four gunshots

After Johnson ran away from the police vehicle at 12:01:30, he ran quite a distance during the ten seconds until the first gunshot at 12:01:40. He ran to the front of 9391 Canfield Drive and then across the street to the area near the tree.

Johnson was standing behind the Monte Carlo when Brown ran past it at about 12:01:45.

THIS ILLUSTRATION IS WRONG. THIS ARTICLE WILL BE RE-WRITTEN.

PV = Police Vehicle
....
MC = Monte Carlo (movement backward after the first gunshot)
....
Red line = Dorian Johnson's run
from the police vehicle
to the Monte Carlo

I elaborate the sequence of events related to Johnson's run as follows. 

1) Johnson gathered the cigarillos from the police vehicle's roof and from Brown's left hand (12:01:27). He backed away from the vehicle to the south sidewalk (12:01:29). Johnson perceived that Brown essentially was just holding the door shut so that Johnson could escape with the cigarillos. Then Johnson ran (12:01:30) laughing to the front of 9391 Canfield Drive (12:01:35). MC Passenger watched that part of Johnson's run. 

2) Johnson and MC Passenger heard a loud noise (12:01:35). Johnson stopped running and looked back. MC Passenger turned his attention away from Johnson and back to the police vehicle. Visiting Sister-in-Law heard a loud noise and began watching the police vehicle. 

3) Johnson realized that the situation might not be just a cigarillo-hide-and-seek game any more. Johnson could not see Brown or Wilson, who are on the vehicle's far side. Johnson ran north across the street to look from that different perspective. He stopped in the area between the street's north sidewalk and the tree (12:01:38). At this point, Balcony Brother noticed Johnson.

4) Immediately after the first gunshot (12:01:40), MC Owner backed up the Monte Carlo for a short distance and stopped. MC Passenger opened his door, and both MC Owner and MC Passenger ducked down.

5) When Johnson saw the Monte Carlo's passenger door open, he ran toward the car's passenger side, intending to hide inside the car. During that run, Balcony Brother retreated from his balcony back into his apartment.

6) Johnson reached the Monte Carlo's passenger side (12:01:43). He stopped close behind MC Passenger, who was leaning out and hiding behind his open door. 

7) Brown, having been wounded by the first gunshot, punched Wilson again through the police vehicle's open window. When Brown saw Wilson trying to un-jam his gun, Brown ran (12:01:43) around the police vehicle and began running down Canfield Drive. 

8) Wilson un-jammed his pistol and, in order to verify its correct operation, fired (12:01:45) a test bullet through his open window into the dirt beyond the street. Brown was running past the Monte Carlo back end. Brown saw Johnson and said, "keep running, bro'". Johnson saw blood splatters on Brown's right arm and on the right side of Brown's shirt. Johnson guessed mistakenly that Brown had been shot in the upper-right chest.  

9) Johnson ducked down, next to the Monte Carlo's passenger side, behind MC Passenger (12:01:47).

10) Wilson sent a radio call, "Put me on Canfield with two and send another car" (12:01:50), got out of his vehicle and started chasing Brown (12:01:55).

11) Wilson ran past the Monte Carlo (12:01:57)

12) MC Passenger climbed into the Monte Carlo's rear seat, enabling Johnson  to climb into the Monte Carlo and hide down in front of the passenger seat (12:02:00) Thus hiding, Johnson did not see the following event. 

12) Brown stopped running for a moment. Having heard the second gunshot, he turned around to look back. He put his hand onto a car that was behind the Monte Carlo. He kicked off his flip-flops and continued running.  (I will tell this event in a later post.)

13) Balcony Brother returned from inside his apartment back out onto his balcony (12:02:05) and focused on Brown and Wilson.  Balcony Brother assumed, but did not see, that Johnson must have disappeared into the Monte Carlo. 

15) Brown stopped and turned around. He began charging at Wilson (12:02:09). 

Wilson paused and moved back toward the Monte Carlo

Stairwell Man told the grand jury that Wilson got out of his police vehicle and soon began shooting at Brown's back as Brown was running away. Then Wilson passed beyond Stairwell Man's vision, which was blocked by another building. Wilson reappeared in view briefly and then disappeared again and resumed shooting. 

Prosecutor  Can you see the officer the whole time he's shooting?

Stairwell Man  Not the whole time, because after he does the first set of shots and then he runs in this direction east and then he fires more shots. 

And then I see him walking back towards my vision.

Prosecutor  So at some point he disappears from your sight because of the building that's between the two of you?

Stairwell Man  Correct.

Prosecutor  And you hear more gunshots after that?

Stairwell Man  Yes. 

[Page 247] 

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Based on information that I detailed in a previous article, I identify Stairwell Man's apartment as follows.

From the stairwell, the view
to the police vehicle and Monte Carlo was good.

The two vehicles were
to the left of the parking lot's driveway
(beyond the photograph's left margin). 

You can see the above photograph uncropped here.

Blue = Police Vehicle
Red = Monte Carlo
Wilson passed out of Stairwell Man's view,
then reappeared and then
disappeared again and resumed shooting. 

You can see the above photograph uncropped here.

Wilson's movement backward into Stairwell Man's sight was the pause that was described by the Brady couple and by Pickup Driver. During that pause, Wilson seemed to move and look back briefly toward the Monte Carlo. 

-------

Wilson's pause and movement backward were not mentioned by Dorian Johnson, MC Owner or MC Passenger. During that pause, those three people were preoccupied in hiding Johnson down in front of the Monte Carlo's front passenger seat.  

The pickup driver saw Wilson pause

Pickup Driver was sitting in a pickup truck that was stopped northwest of Darren Wilson's police vehicle. He was near-sighted but was not wearing eyeglasses. He was trying to maneuver to make a U-turn to depart back toward West Florissant Drive. The U-turn was difficult, because he was boxed in by cars behind and in front of him.

Black = Pickup Truck
Green = Minivan
Blue = Police Vehicle
Red = Monte Carlo

Pickup Driver thought that he saw only Michael Brown -- never Dorian Johnson -- during the incident. Pickup Driver did see Johnson behind the Monte Carlo, but thought he saw Brown there. Pickup Driver thought mistakenly that Brown ran from the police vehicle and paused behind the Monte Carlo, leaning on its trunk, on the curb side. 

Apparently, Pickup Driver looked away from Brown for a moment -- looking instead for a U-turn route that would not collide with the minivan in front of him -- while Brown was running away from the police vehicle. Then, when Pickup Driver looked back toward Brown, he saw Johnson and mistook him for Brown. 

-------

In Pickup Driver's confused narration, he indicated that Wilson ran past Brown (i.e. Johnson) and then paused and turned back, seeming to focus on Brown (i.e Johnson). Pickup Driver told a detective:

And then all of sudden I heard the shot, POW, and then the boy took off and ran .... about two three car-lengths and put his hands on the back of a brown -- I think it was a -- Mercury. .... 

Then the officer got out of the truck. He had his gun down to the side. He going down-side from the driveway, though he going back to the truck, like trying to keep him in sight, and then boy took his hands off the truck.

[Page 11]

The brown Mercury was the white Monte Carlo, which was about one car-length behind the police vehicle. The person with his hands on the car's back was Johnson, not Brown. 

The expression going down-side from the driveway meant that Wilson ran beyond the parking lot's driveway -- beyond the Mercury (i.e. Monte Carlo). 

The expression he going back to the truck, like trying to keep him in sight describes Wilson's pause. The truck was the police vehicle. The expression trying to keep him in sight indicates that Wilson glanced back at Brown (i.e. Johnson), who was standing behind the Mercury (i.e. the Monte Carlo).  

In other words, Pickup Driver was distracted by his effort to make a U-turn, and so he came to misunderstand the situation, which he could not see well, because he was near-sighted and was not wearing glasses. Pickup Driver thought that Brown ran behind the Monte Carlo and leaned on its trunk. Then Wilson walked past the Monte Carlo and Brown. Wilson walked some distance further and then paused and looked back at Brown. 

At that point, Pickup Driver distracted himself again, trying to make a U-turn. Then when he looked again down Canfield Drive, he saw Brown moving northwest toward Wilson (back toward Pickup Driver). 

--------

Thus, Pickup Driver described Wilson's pause, which was described also by Fiancée Brady ...

The officer [Wilson] was walking behind him [Brown] steady, opening fire, shooting. ....  

I asked my fiancé, I said, "Well, I guess the guy [Brown] got away, because I don't see him [Wilson] walking anymore."  

[Pages 1-3]

.... and by Michael Brady .... 

The guy with the dreads [Johnson] was the [my] 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 [inaudible]. 

There is a pause by the time he [Wilson] went past [the Monte Carlo]. There is a pause right there during his 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 33 - 34] 

None of these three witnesses -- Pickup Driver, Fiancée Brady or Michael Brady -- saw that Wilson's pause coincided with Brown's stopping and turning around at Coppercreek Court. Therefore, all three deduced mistakenly that Wilson paused in order to look back at Johnson and the Monte Carlo. 

Wilson himself said later that he never paid any attention to Johnson or the Monte Carlo. It is likely that Wilson indeed did pause and look back behind himself to check that general area. Seeing no threats in his rear, Wilson then turned back toward Brown for their final confrontation. 

This pause was not described by three other witnesses -- Dorian Johnson, MC Owner or MC Passenger. At the moment of Wilson's pause, those three were preoccupied with hiding Johnson down in front of the Monte Carlo's front passenger seat.  

------

Below are more of Pickup Driver's statements about Wilson's chase and pause. 

Pickup Driver told a detective that Brown ran to a car that was only a couple of car-lengths beyond the police vehicle.

Black male took off running. He ran down the street. In my mind, I thought he maybe got hit, because he couldn't run that far. He run about maybe three car-lengths or two. There was a brown car sitting there. He put his hand on the back of the brown car. Then the officer got out the truck. ....

I heard the shot, and then the boy took off and ran about two, three car lengths and put his hands on the back of a brown -- I think it was a -- Mercury. .... And then the officer got out of the truck.

[Pages 3 and 11]

Pickup Driver told the grand jury that Brown paused behind the car, on the curb side.

Pickup Driver  I see Michael hit him [Wilson] a couple times, and then all of the sudden I see the officer lean over, one of his hands disappear.

Then ... I heard a shot, POW, and Mike Brown took off running.

Prosecutor  What did Michael Brown do when you heard POW?

Pickup Driver  He took off running.

And then the officer got out of his truck, and the officer had his gun down to his side like that. Looked like the officer was reaching up to his thing he had on his shirt that he talked through.

Then the kid ran a piece off. And he stopped, he was behind a car, looked like he had both of his hands on the car ... Michael Brown.

And then the officer was coming towards him and then look like Michael Brown started coming back towards the officer.

That's the last I saw of him. I was turned around like this, I was backing out, turned around. I seen it was clear. I took off. I heard three more shots right before I started forward, like pow, pow, pow, like that.

That was the last that I saw until I heard the rest on the news.

[Pages 23 - 25] 

Pickup Driver  Michael Brown probably run about two-and-a-half car-lengths or maybe three, something like that. ....

Prosecutor  Was Michael Brown running or was he walking?

Pickup Driver  He was running. And then it looked like he couldn't go no further. He stopped and put his hand on the back of the car.

I recall that car was brown or gold or something like that, as far as I can recall.
It looked like Michael Brown .... took his hands off the car and was coming towards the officer. ...

Michael Brown was running and he [Wilson] is coming behind him. It look like Michael Brown just got tired all at once or couldn't run no further, and put his hand on the back of the car.

And then the police still coming at him. He [Brown] took his hand off the car and was walking a towards the police ... walking or running, I'm not sure, but he was coming towards the officer and that's the last I saw. ....

Prosecutor  When you saw Michael Brown, you said he ran a good piece, and then he stopped and he put his hands on the back of the car.  Was this a car that was in the roadway?

Pickup Driver  Yes, it was parked [facing] back towards West Florissant. ...

Prosecutor  Did it appear that it was parked out in the street?

Pickup Driver  It was stopped like somebody stayed there.

Prosecutor  Like somebody else who had to stop?

Pickup Driver  No, there was no one in that car, I remember that. ... I didn't see anyone in that car. ....

Prosecutor  Was it regular car or an SUV or a van?

Pickup Driver  It look something like a Mercury, one of the older Mercuries. ...

Prosecutor  Michael Brown put both of his hands on the back of that car?

Pickup Driver  Right. ...

Prosecutor  Michael Brown was a tall guy, a big guy. ... When you say the back of the car, was it like on the trunk area?

Pickup Driver  Right, it was on the trunk. ... 

Prosecutor  When he was staying there with his hands on the trunk of the car, did the officer continue to move toward him?

Pickup Driver  The officer continued towards him. .... 

He [Brown] is behind the car, but right on the edge. .... He was on this side ... toward the curb. .... It looked like he got tired. .....

Prosecutor  There was a car in front of you, and you were worried about hitting that car, right?

Pickup Driver  Right, before I turned around. I was turning around. 

[Pages 27 - 35]

.

Wilson paused in his chase right after he passed a green Grand Am

Police Officer Darren Wilson told the grand jury that he had just passed a green Grand Am when Brown stopped and turned around. 

We [Brown and Wilson] start running ... towards ... Copper Creek Court and Canfield, right at that intersection. There is a light pole right there. I remember him running towards the light pole.

We pass two cars that were behind my police car while we were running. I think the second one was a Pontiac Grand Am, a green one. I don't know if it was a two-door or four-door, I just remember seeing a Pontiac green Grand Am. 

When I passed the second one, about that same time he [Brown] stopped running and he is at that light pole. So when he stopped, I stopped. And then he starts to turn around, I tell him to get on the ground.

[Pages 226 - 227] 

------

Both Fiancée Brady and Michael Brady saw Wilson pause, so the Grand Am should have been in their view. Since Wilson had passed the car and since Wilson remained visible to the Brady couple in his paused location, then the Grand Am was visible too. 

The blue circle is about where Wilson paused.

Fiancee Brady indicated that she always saw Wilson after he paused.

Wilson said he paused when he saw Brown stop and turn around and
right after he passed the green Grand Am. 

Fiancée Brady told a detective on August 9 (the day of the incident), that the incident included a moment when she thought police officer Darren Wilson stopped chasing Michael Brown. At that moment, Brown was not visible to her.

The officer [Wilson] was walking behind him [Brown] steady, opening fire, shooting. .... 

I asked my fiancé, I said, "Well, I guess the guy [Brown] got away, because I don't see him [Wilson] walking anymore."  

[Pages 1-3]

Perceiving mistakenly that the danger had ended, Fiancee Brady opened the sliding glass door, walked out onto the balcony, invited her three sons to join her outside, and shifted her attention from Wilson to Dorian Johnson. Unexpectedly, Brown returned into her view.

The next thing I know, I see the African-American guy [Brown] walking back down, facing the Caucasian officer. 

[Page 3]

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Michael Brady told an FBI special agent on August 13 that there was a moment when Wilson seemed to pause and turn his attention from Brown, who was running away, to Johnson, who was crouching behind the Monte Carlo.  

Brady  The guy with the dreads [Johnson] was the [my] 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 [inaudible].

There is a pause by the time he [Wilson] went past [the Monte Carlo]. There is a pause right there during his 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 33 - 34] 

Wilson said he paused when he had just passed the Grand Am.
The Brady couple saw Wilson pause, so they saw the Grand Am.

Michael Brady said that the Monte Carlo and another car
left the scene at about the same time, after Brown fell dead.

The burgundy Bonneville remained in the parking lot.

.

Brady was confused about the scene in his grand-jury testimony

Toward the end of Michael Brady's grand-jury testimony, the prosecutor showed Brady that he was significantly mistaken about the locations of the police vehicle and of Brown's body. Brady indicated mistakenly that the police vehicle was stopped "before the driveways that's across from each other".

Brady insisted to the grand jury that the police vehicle
and Brown's body were situated as depicted above.

The prosecutor struggled to convince Brady
that he was significantly mistaken.

Following is the prosecutor's effort to convince Brady that he was mistaken about those locations.

Prosecutor  You know, the police were out there afterwards, correct? And they photograph everything. .... Do you have any reason the police moved the body into a different location? ....

And you know police took measurements of where the body was in relation to things, and they did a diagram. ... I'm going to show you a diagram that was done. ...

I'm not trying to mess you up at all, because it is difficult to remember all of this. .... 

So, this is a diagram ... this is where they measured where the police truck was  ... 

You never saw that truck move again, did you? .... The [police] truck is about somewhere in this area according to the diagram, correct? ...

Brady  No, it was actually up here, like right here ... like up here.

Prosecutor  You think it was closer up to here?

Brady  Yeah, I know it was because there is a sign right here ... I just know it was closer to the driveway right here.

Prosecutor  So let me ask you this. Do you think that the police officer measured it wrong or do you think anybody moved the truck?

Brady  No, no, I know that the [police] truck was right here. It was definitely right here -- just before this driveway, diagonally in the middle of the street -- more right here, before the driveways that's across from each other.

Prosecutor  I can also put this [diagram] up there. So, now, here is the depiction of where Michael Brown's body came to rest. ... The way they have it, his body is somewhere right around here. You don't think that's right?

Brady  No, it is not right. His body is definitely right here, because I live there, and that's the driveway right here. His death bed is just a little bit past the driveway. ....

Prosecutor  They did the measurements. It was a little bit further than your eyes focused on -- where he actually fell. 

I'm not trying to say you are lying about this or anything. Don't feel like you're on the defensive. I'm trying to point out that you're wrong or that you weren't really there.

Brady  I was there.

Prosecutor  I know you were there, but people remember things differently or they see things from a different perspective. Distances are hard to judge. I just want to clear things up.

I'm going to show you what is a photograph that was taken by the detective  ... This is the image that the detective took of the police car. ....  That's the police car right there. Does that help you get a perspective of where the car might have been?

Brady  You may be right. .... If I'm on the balcony, it's a little wall right here. .... I could barely see, because I got barbecue grills right here. ....

Prosecutor  Then I'm going to show you Image Number 13. This is where his body came to rest ... 

Brady  Yeah. I think that's right. Yeah, okay.

Prosecutor  So, does that help you?

Brady  Yeah. .... I didn't see nobody move the body. 

Prosecutor  So, seeing those photographs, you believe that those photographs do depict where the body was and where the vehicle was?

Brady  Yeah.

Prosecutor  Okay, all right. I just wanted to clarify that. .....

Brady  I thought the [police] vehicle was a little bit upwards from my balcony and from my window. 

But it would have been right here [pointing to the corrected location] and another one [vehicle] right here. 

Prosecutor  You're talking about the white Monte Carlo?

Brady  Yes. 

[Pages 41 - 50]

Therefore, Brady's grand-jury statements about the scene are somewhat unreliable.  

Brady saw a second car stopped behind the Monte Carlo

In a previous article, I told how Michael Brady saw a burgundy or purple Bonneville car, with open doors, in the parking lot near the Monte Carlo. In this article here, I will tell how he saw also another car, with its doors closed, stopped along the curb, behind the Monte Carlo. 

Although Brady was not able to describe that other car, police officer Darren Wilson described it definitively as a green Grand Am. Brady thought that this car's color was not purplish, but rather some other, darker color. 

Brady told the grand jury on September 25 that two cars were stopped "on the side" or "on the sidewalk". The first was the Monte Carlo, and the second car was the Grand Am. 

Brady  His friend [Johnson] was in the [police vehicle's] front passenger side. If the police cruiser is right here [pointing to an overhead photograph in the courtroom], there was also two parked vehicles on the side right here.  

His friend [Johnson] takes off running directly behind the first vehicle he sees. 

[Page 17] 

Prosecutor  Did you notice any other vehicles around the police car or in front of or the police car initially?

Brady  I just seen two vehicles parked on the side, on the sidewalk.

[Pages 32 - 34]

Prosecutor  Would the other cars that were parked there -- the one that Dorian allegedly ran behind -- would they have been in this picture?

Brady  Yes. ...  It [the Monte Carlo] would have been right here, and another one right here [pointing to an overhead photograph in the courtroom]. ....

Prosecutor  Those two vehicles you're talking about -- the white Monte Carlo and ... a purple car.

Brady  I think it [the Grand Am] was a darker color, black.

Prosecutor  Maroon or black cherry or something?.

Brady  Uh-huh [yes].

Prosecutor  Did it look like they had stopped in traffic? Or were they parked?

Brady  No, they was on the side. They was just on the side. I don't even think they was parked. They was just off to the side.

[Pages 49 - 51]

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In his very first interview, with a detective five hours after the incident, Brady mentioned that those two vehicles leave the scene at about the same time after the final, fatal gunshots. 

The officer [Darren Wilson] let out three, maybe four, shots to the guy [Brown]. That's when he [Brown] hit the ground. That was it; that was the whole thing. 

He [Brown] actually had a friend [Johnson]. ... I seen him duck down at a car. They had a car door open. It was a white car. He hopped in.

I guess those two cars left.  

[Page 1]

Unfortunately, Brady never has been asked to elaborate about the two cars. 

Brady was not including the Bonneville among those two cars that left. The Bonneville remained in the parking lot, and its male occupant got out, approached Brady, and engaged him in a conversation. 

Brady saw a burgundy Bonneville, with open doors, in the parking lot

When Michael Brady looked out his bedroom window, he saw Michael Brown and Police Officer Darren Wilson tussling at the police vehicle's driver-side window. Brady saw also two cars with their doors open and one car with its doors closed:

1) a white Monte Carlo, which was stopped along Canfield Drive's curb, about seven feet east of the police vehicle -- both doors open.

A 1999 Monte Carlo, the last model, painted white.

2) a burgundy (or purple)Bonneville, which was parked in the nearby parking lot -- both front doors open.

A 2002 Pontiac Bonneville, the last model, painted burgundy.

3) a green Grand Am, which was stopped along Canfield Drive's curb -- all doors closed.  

A 2005 Grand Am, the last model, painted green.

Brady did not remember the green Grand Am's make or color, but he did see it leave the scene. The make and color were stated definitely by police officer Darren Wilson.

I think that the below image shows the automobiles' locations.  

The green Grand Am arrived to the scene late -- after the first gunshot and after the Monte Carlo's backward movement. I imagine that it arrived around the moment of the second gunshot. Brady paid relatively little attention to this car. 

In this article here, I will tell Brady's memory of the burgundy-purple Bonneville. 

-------

When Brady was interviewed by a detective on August 13, 2014, four days after the incident, he mentioned the white and purple cars.  

Detective  Now show me [on an overhead photograph of the scene] where that Monte Carlo was at.

Brady  It was probably about right here. It was two cars actually -- a white one and a purple [burgundy] one.

[Page 14]

Unfortunately, the detective did not ask him to elaborate about the purple car. In a later statement, however, he indicated that his attention was drawn to these two cars because their doors were open. In Brady's mind (I think), these were the two cars into which Dorian Johnson might have tried to enter. 

-------

In a later interview with an FBI special agent on September 17, Brady again mentioned those two cars. He said Johnson hid behind "the first one", "the white car", the one parked "a little behind the police cruiser". 

FBI SA  You said you see Mike Brown and the guy with the dreads [Johnson] take off ...

Brady  Yeah. .... Mike Brown is on the driver's side of the car, so he takes off behind the [police] vehicle directly in the middle of the road. 

And his friend [Johnson] -- there was a parked vehicle [the Monte Carlo] a little behind the police cruiser. .... 

It was actually two buildings [cars]. His friend [Johnson] was in the front [of the police vehicle], and he runs to the very first one [to the Monte Carlo], to the trunk of it. 

The officer get out of the car and started shooting ... and taking large steps. .....

FBI SA  I'm sorry to cut you off. You see this guy with the dreads. Where does he actually go?

Brady  He runs behind the trunk of the white car, the first one. 

[Pages 30 - 31]

Unfortunately, the FBI special agent did not ask Brady to elaborate about the second car's color and location.

At one point in the above passage, the word "cars" was mistakenly spoken as the word "buildings". I speculate that the verbal slip occurred as Brady was trying to express the following thought: 

There was a white vehicle parked a little behind the police cruiser, and there was a purple vehicle parked near the building.

-------

Later in that same FBI interview, Brady mentioned a "maybe burgundy" Bonneville. In the same passage, Brady described the same car to the FBI special agent as "purple". While Brady was looking through his bedroom window, he had noticed the Bonneville on the parking lot. 

Immediately after the incident, Brady was standing on his balcony by his front door and using his cell phone to film and narrate the scene. A young African-American man -- a stranger to Brady -- got out of the Bonneville and approached the apartment building's stairwell. Brady and the Bonneville occupant discussed the incident. 

The Bonneville occupant informed Brady about what had happened before Brady began looking through his bedroom window. 

FBI SA  After it [the incident] happened and you were on your cell phone, you're recording. Can you talk about who was around you. You were narrating it [the cell-phone video]. There are people in the background. 

Brady ... It was a guy on that parking lot in a maybe burgundy Bonneville.  Him and his girlfriend was already sitting out there, and they were just talking. 

I remember him saying that the officer reversed back and ran over his [Brown's] foot. .... I assumed that he [Brown] just ran into the [police] car and got to punching on him [Wilson], but he [the Bonneville occupant] said that he [Wilson] reversed back and ran over his [Brown's] foot and tried to grab him [Brown] through the [police] car window. 

FBI SA  Do you know this person [the Bonneville occupant]?

Brady  No, I never seen him before.  

FBI SA  Have you seen him since?

Brady  No.

FBI SA  So, the recording you provided ... was it from the balcony?

Brady  Yeah, it was from the balcony.

FBI SA  Help me understand that. When I watch that recording, it seemed like .... the person in that car, that burgundy car down below, is talking up to you.

Brady  I can't even remember. I don't know if he came up on the steps. ...

FBI SA  You say a burgundy car?

Brady  Yeah. When I went out there onto ground level, that's when I was really talking to him. I'm trying to remember if I was recording on my balcony or if he walked up to the steps. ....

FBI SA  When you say "balcony", is it right outside your front door or a [sliding glass] door outside of your living room?

Brady  It is right outside the front door.

FBI SA  So, the steps are right in front of your door?

Brady  Yeah, right in front of my [front] door. The balcony is right there.

[Pages 53 - 55] 

FBI SA  When you talked to him [the Bonneville occupant], did the two of you kind of piece this together?

Brady  He saw the whole thing basically, but I pieced his [observations] with mine.

FBI SA  You say he saw the whole thing, and he never gave you his name?

Brady  No. 

FBI SA  Do you know how to find him?

Brady  Not at all. I don't remember seeing him again afterwards -- or the vehicle.

FBI SA  Can you, real quick, tell us what he told you again about what he saw?

Brady  He said that the officer pulls up to them [Brown and Johnson], and the officer say something to them, and they say something back. And he [Wilson] reversed back, and that's why the police cruiser is in the middle of the street diagonal, because he [Wilson] cuts Mike Brown off. And he says that he [Wilson] runs over his [Brown's] foot ... and that's where the tussle started at. .... He [Brown] was punching on him [Wilson] in the window.  

And that's when I came to the [bedroom] window, because I heard the little tussle. 

FBI SA  Did he say anything to you about a gunshot while the police officer was in the car? 

Brady  ..... I don't remember that the guy with the purple [burgundy] car said that to me. ..... I only started hearing shots when he [Wilson] gets out the vehicle.

FBI SA  This individual ... told you what he saw before you actually started looking out the [bedroom] window. You didn't see any of that -- the police officer pull up and an exchange between the two of them talking or him backing the car up -- you didn't see any of that?

Brady  No, I didn't.

[Pages 62 - 64]

FBI SA  It seems kind of weird to us that this stranger starts coming up and having a whole discussion with you. 

Brady  Everybody just started talking to everybody. ... I saw him already at the [bedroom] window. 

[Page 71]

FBI SA  Could I ask you some more about the guy in the burgundy [purple] car? ... About how old is he?

Brady  I know he's younger than me -- a lot younger guy.  ....

FBI SA  Was he Black or White?

Brady   Black.

FBI SA  Was he with anybody in the [car]?

Brady  With a girl, maybe his girlfriend.....

[Pages 74 - 75]  

It seems that the Bonneville driver did not inform Brady about what happened away from the police vehicle. If so, then the Bonneville must have been on the parking lot in a place where the driver could see the actions around the police vehicle, but not the actions around the final, fatal shooting. That discrepancy would be true if the Bonneville was parked as shown in the image at the beginning of this article.

The parking spot is directly below Piaget Crenshaw's bedroom window. For some reason, the Bonneville's two occupants never have identified themselves to investigators, and I speculate that their persistent reluctance has something to do with Crenshaw.

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Below is an image depicting the view from Brady's apartment. The image was made by "Gary", a commentator in discussions conducted at The Conservative Treehouse. The image can be seen in full size here.  

Small-size image depicting the view from Brady's apartment. 

Below is the left part of the above image, in full size. All the labels were added by me.

If the purple-burgundy Bonneville was parked where I think it was, 
then the view from Brady's apartment is depicted above. 

The Monte Carlo's and Bonneville's doors were open. 

Ignore the black car behind the Monte Carlo 
and ignore the green SUV in the foreground. 

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Near the end of his grand-jury testimony, Brady mentioned that the occupants of the purple (burgundy) car in the parking lot had opened their doors before the incident began. 

Grand Juror  Did you see anybody else outside -- in the parking lot, in that building or grassy area in front of the parking lot -- during the shooting?

Brady  As a matter of fact, yeah. There was another, purple car sitting on the parking lot already, and that person told me he saw the whole thing. That one person was already outside.

Grand Juror  Was that a male or female?

Brady  A male and female. ..... They saw when the officer pulled, when he first pulling up to the street to them [Brown and Johnson].

He [the Bonneville occupant] happen to be outside with his girlfriend. They was just in the car with their feet up, with the doors open.

[Pages 53 - 54]

In the above passage, the final words about the purple car -- with the doors open -- explain why Brady had noticed that car too when he looked out his bedroom window. Both the white Monte Carlo and the purple-burgundy Bonneville had their doors open.

Johnson lied about when the Monte Carlo drove away

Both MC Owner and MC Passenger testified that they watched Brown fall dead. After that, they drove around Wilson's police vehicle and away from the scene. They said also that as they were driving on the lawn around Wilson’s vehicle, arriving back-up police vehicles almost collided with their car.

Contradicting their accounts, Dorian Johnson testified to the grand jury that the Monte Carlo drove away while Brown still was running away, a considerable time before Brown fell dead. After the Monte Carlo drove away, two more cars remained along the street.

Furthermore, Johnson said that Wilson tried to shoot Brown in the back twice before Brown stopped and turned around. Johnson invented these gunshots at Brown's back because Johnson did not see this part of the event. Johnson actually was hiding down inside the Monte Carlo, which did not move away until after Brown fell dead. 

Johnson  I watched the officer [Wilson] walk past [the Monte Carlo]. He never even looked at me. He just kept walking past, and I’m watching him and I’m in awe. I’m like, "okay, is he looking for us or is he going after him [Brown]?" 

Everything is in my head is just racing real fast because of the gunshot [at Brown's back]. I’m hyperventilating. My heart is pounding.  

After he [Wilson] walked past me, I kind of stand up more. I’m trying to ask the people in the first car [the Monte Carlo]: "Could I please just let me in the vehicle. I stay in the same complex. You can just drop me off."  

They said no, and they pulled off on the sidewalk.  

Prosecutor  Where did they pull to? 

Johnson  The first car [the Monte Carlo]? They didn’t drive through the driveway. They pulled on the sidewalk to drive past the police officer [i.e. police vehicle].  

Once they pulled off, I was even more visible now. I’m standing straight. The officer’s back is towards me. Big Mike’s back is towards me and the officer, because he [Brown] is running away.  

I’m watching the officer. He’s walking, and Big Mike gets past the third car, the final car before the second shot was fired. It was the second shot fired [at Brown's back], pow. The officer shot. I don’t know if it hit. I wasn’t that close to see.  

The second time he [Wilson] shot [at Brown's back], I didn’t know if it hit him [Brown] or not, but he kind of jerked, and that’s when he stopped running. He just kind of stopped and turned around at the officer. And now he’s face-to-face with the officer, but not so close.  

Now, Big Mike is probably, he’s not fully at the driveway, but he gets probably to the curb of the driveway when the second shot [at Brown's back]. And now at the second shot, the officer …. is passing the third vehicle.  

Prosecutor  Where are you? …. You are at the second vehicle [behind the Monte Carlo]?  

Johnson  Yes, but I’m more over to the side now, because like I said, I was trying to talk to the people in the front car [the Monte Carlo]. I was on the side of their car when I was trying to talk to them. After they pulled off, I had to stand watching the officer pace towards Big Mike.  

[Pages 119-121]

MC Owner and MC Passenger both were absolutely clear that the Monte Carlo backed up a short distance after the first gunshot was fired in the the police vehicle and then remained there until after Brown fell dead. MC Owner watched the final, fatal gunshots in her rear-view mirror, and MC Passenger watched through the back window. Only after they both saw Brown fall dead did MC Owner drive the Monte Carlo around Wilson's police vehicle in order to leave the scene. 

MC Owner's statements are here, here and here (beginning on page 70). MC Passenger's statements are here and here (beginning on page 153). You can easily find the many passages where they described how they watched the final, fatal gunshots, watched Brown fall dead, and then afterwards drove around Wilson's police vehicle.

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As just one example, MC Passenger told the grand jury that Johnson still was asking to get into the Monte Carlo after Brown had been shot dead. 

MC Passenger  The first thing he [Johnson] said: "Can I get in? Can you take me down here?"

I'm like: "No, I don't know you."

[Johnson was] just some random guy that said, "hey, man, take me somewhere." 

Prosecutor  The point where Dorian was at the car, asking to get in, the shooting had already occurred?

MC Passenger  Right. 

[Pages 177 - 178]

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Also, other witnesses -- Michael Brady and his fiance, whose testimony I will describe in future posts -- confirmed that the Monte Carlo remained until after Brown fell dead.

Johnson's story that the Monte Carlo drove away and left him exposed while Brown still was running away is a lie. The purpose of this lie was to conceal the fact that Johnson climbed into the Monte Carlo while Brown was running away. 

MC Owner and MC Passenger concealed that same fact by telling a different lie -- that they both blacked out while Brown was running away.