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)A young, hispanic guy was arrested in my side-yard one day.
He reacted very differently to the police stop and questioning than my white, middle-class children would have.
The whole point of the discussion on DU is explaining the reason for that difference.
My view is that Wilson incited a confrontation and, because he was in the position of authority and therefore in charge, should have waited for back-up.
Instead, Wilson backed up his car in a neighborhood that was as someone said "anti-police" and started the confrontation that way.
Should Brown have been arrested for the theft of the cigarillos? Yes. But not by one officer alone. Wilson should have waited for back-up. Was Wilson just itching for a fight? Did he have some intent to escalate the situation possibly even to violence? We will never know, but Wilson knows. It's a burden he will have to live with for the rest of his life. This is the stuff of a man's nightmares.