Below are Piaget's witness statements from the first three interviews I saw. I did my best to get her statements word for word, if there are inaccuracies, you have my word they are unintentional. I ask that those who continue to believe the witness accounts or base their belief the cop executed Mike to read her statements and my comments with an open mind. I know in some cases, I nitpicked, as I would expect a lawyer or juror to. I am not averse to being carved up on this forum, so have at it. If moderators feel any part of this violates TOS here, please feel free to adjust accordingly. I hope the formatting works, I have also included links (if they don't work for you, it's probably on your end) to the interviews and some other links below for context. Work is blowing up, as if Ferguson and these threads, and time is not a commodity, I had hoped to start this process days ago. I am way behind on the posts here, so if any of this is redundant, my apologies. I'm also sorry to post on my schedule which likely coincides with the live coverage of the sadness tonight. I have Tiffany's interviews transcribed, but it is far more lengthy and have not been evaluated in this fashion. Plus, I want to see if it's worth the time and effort to continue as things develop. So, with that, here it is.
8/9/14 KMOV interview in street http://fox2now.com/2014/08/09/man-shot-killed-in-ferguson-apartment-complex/
I witnessed the police, um, chase after the guy. So, of course, he was unarmed, he ran for his life, they shot him and he fell. He put his arms up to let them know he was compliant and that he was unarmed and they shot him twice more and he fell to the ground and died.
Everybody is extremely mad at this, this is another Trayvon Martin story. A young man died before his time because of brutality from a different race, its racial profiling.
My thoughts: First paragraph, odd word choices marked in bold. Seems to be overselling this, sounds more activist than witness. Refers to they and them as if Wilson represents a group. Second paragraph, guess we know why she sounded more activist and referred to police as a group. Watch the eyes, sounds like shes repeating talking points shes heard. Already, racial accusations just hours after the shooting gives pause to whether there is already an angle being played. Two shots after Mike ran, Dorian Johnson said several.
8/11/14 MSNBC interview outside her apartment http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/eyewitness-michael-brown-fatal-shooting-missouri
It looked like he is trying to force him into the police car or at least force him to stop walking. Hes running this way (motions to her left), he turns his body towards this way (turns around), hands in the air, being compliant, he gets shot in his face and chest and goes down and dies.
My thoughts: Repeats compliant, says shot in chest (autopsy showed no chest shots, Johnsons account also mentioned chest). Timeline issue, question how she could see the same thing (the tussle) as Tiffany given the account below and the one Tiffany gives? Also curious how she sees the EXACT same thing as Tiffany even though shes on the passenger side of car.
8/13/14 CNN Shared interview with Tiffany Mitchell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=advkpZIuq2U
On whether Piaget was able to get a better look than Tiffany...
Um, well, when I first looked out of my window, it was because Tiffany was calling me to come down, you know, we were on our way to work. So, I have, my video isnt from that time but I actually saw with my own eyes the conflict started with the confrontation at the window. It just looked like it was a tussle or some struggle going on. I couldnt really tell really from my angle, but then I saw police just get out and chase him (inaudible) down the street and shoot him down.
My thoughts: Tiffany drove up on the struggle, then pulled out her phone. Piaget says she saw this looking out the window when Tiffany called. Contradictory! Overselling saw with my own eyes. How did she see the conflict start?
In response to question of whether Brown was in the car
I mean like, he was out, uh, Michael Brown, I mean, Im sorry, Michael was outside of the police car and the police was inside and just seemed like he was just trying to, it was just some kind of Michael trying to get away really quickly and the police wouldnt let him so then thats when I heard the shots fired.
My thoughts: Made sure to drive home outside of police car. Said shots when one is all Ive seen or heard about.
In response to Piaget ever seeing Brown reach for officers gun
No, I couldnt, I couldnt see that closely from my balcony, I couldnt actually see the opposite side of the car, but he was outside of the car and it just looked like a struggle was going on and the police actually shot kind of carelessly, they shot, um, my neighbors building that was on the opposite side of the police car and they then later came and removed that bullet. So, anybody could have just been standing right there.
My thoughts: She has difficulty seeing from her balcony, shes on the opposite side of the car, but she knows he was outside of car (which she re-iterates again), and she can see the cop shot his gun carelessly through the glare of his front window? And how does one shoot a neighbors building on the opposite side of the car, especially when Johnson said the shot hit Mike? Has anyone seen anything about the bullet removal? The last line sounds like public service announcement.
Adding to Tiffanys comments wondering why Mike was killed while fleeing
And even when he turned around and put his arms in the air, he was then overkilled shot multiple times.
My thoughts: Overkilled
sounds like shes being coached to use certain terms for effect. Two, multiple, or several, depending on the witness.
On how far Mike ran
Oh, he ran a good 20 feet down the street.
My thoughts: By my estimation, it was a lot farther from Browns body to his hat in the street. Now I dont expect her to be good with distance estimation, but look at Google Maps and estimate the distance.
On whether the first shot was inside the car
Could you tell who fired that first shot
Um, well, when I looked out the window and saw the original tussle going on, I quickly grabbed my purse, tried to run to the other window and at that time it was over with. I heard the shots fired and I saw the hole with the building in it and Michael was running down the street at that time.
My thoughts: THIS is confusing. You are watching this incident and grabbing your purse and changing window views and yet you give nearly the same account of things as Tiffany? Not to mention the brick wall that blocks nearly half the distance between Mikes body and where the hat was (hat indicates loosely where the struggle was. Repeats shots again. Johnson said one shot.
Conclusion: I fail to see how this witness has any credibility and doubt seriously if she saw much, if any, of this. She sounds like she is passing along the story she was told. Shes watching the struggle supposedly as shes talking on her phone, but fails to record the event, at least until it was over. I wonder if she did record it and it happened as the cop said and she deleted. There are way too many things in her statements that discredit her, shes just not credible. Oh, and by the way, on CNN tonight, she indicated his arms never went up as the adjusted autopsy showed. Also curious why she never mentioned the cars that pulled up and were blocked that Mitchell and Johnson described in various different ways.
Supporting information...
Google maps - Search 2947 Canfield Dr. Ferguson, MO then click street view, gives great perspective when you click around to see the theater of the shooting. Note the brick wall that would block line of site to the middle half of the action area. The truck was approximately at the left driveway, the hat on the other side of the truck and Michaels body was lying straight out from the right brick column of the building. If you look at body, hat, approximate spot where the car would have been perpendicular to the street as Johnson described, you have a pretty good idea of the area this took place. The video in the last interview link gives some perspective to all this, as do some of the others that have been posted (like the oft posted video with the description that matches the cop's friend).
Photo of the hat and SUV (not Wilson's, but one in video - look at angle of truck) -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...shot-dead-unarmed-teenager-Michael-Brown.html
Final thought - Tiffany Mitchell is a much better witness than her employee Piaget, but I think she too is just as impeachable as Piaget and Johnson. I'll also say that I am still not convinced of anything for certain as far as the shooting, I just fail to see the strength of the eyewitness testimony and that, plus a healthy dose of our social past, is the only thing everyone's angst with the cop is based on. Without it, the assumption of racial bias isn't enough to convict the cop, especially when not a single one of us have ever talked to the man or heard or seen him speak. Hard to judge people using clairvoyance.
All IMO to cover that rabbit!
