Thanks for posting, much at that link.
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@MsFacetious)
Yes, I think there are a couple other points that could have been mentioned too.
The fact that the red truck was driving quickly, going around the family vehicle drew attention to it from the family's perspective. For the other witnesses, it is simply a well proven fact that red vehicles are noticed far more. They get pulled over by police more for example.
I think after the witnesses got out of survival mode as described in the article, they looked up to see the red truck getting on the freeway. They didn't see the actual suspect since he had turned off the road into a neighborhood immediately after shooting. So, the red truck was the only one they saw.
We've seen suspects get away with things we would have never thought possible. It's just a little bit of dumb luck, everyone looked at the bright red truck and nobody noticed them.
Jazmine Barnes: Why the man arrested in 7-year-old's death didn't fit witnesses descriptions. - CNN
At least four other witnesses also reported seeing someone in a red truck fire at the vehicle, Merritt said.
But witness accounts are inherently fallible.
"Generally speaking, when we're talking about these kinds of events, we're talking about something that happens quickly. It's unexpected," said Gary Wells, a psychology professor at Iowa State University who is an expert in eyewitness testimony. "The brain isn't really wired to record verbatim accounts of things but rather is wired only to record the gist of things."
That's especially the case in dangerous circumstances, he said.
"When we become fearful, all of our mental resources tend to go toward survival. That's why we duck, we run," he said. "None of our mental resources are really going to be forming long-term memories. It's not functional. What's functional for survival is to survive."
