General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I work with teens Michael Brown's age and the number one rule is [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Wilson made a difficult situation with an angry kid much worse than it was. That is the point of the OP. Kids like Brown do not have the self-control that a man of Wilson's age hopefully does.
And on top of it all, Wilson had additional responsibility for staying calm and waiting for back-up because HE HAD A GUN. Wilson was safe, and if he had waited for back-up he would have been safer.
Imagine a situation in which Wilson had not backed up his car, had not opened the car door so as to hit Brown. The day would have been like any other. A second cop car would have pulled up. The news of the theft in the store would have caused the police to arrest Brown. Wilson would not have been afraid. Two officers, maybe three, would have arrested Brown with no problem.
This is a matter of police incompetence. It simply is not necessary to kill an 18-year-old kid in that situation. Arrest him? Yes. But do it so as to save his life.