Darren Wilson Has A Whole Other Side to the Story

Over the last couple of months, Ferguson has become the center of a national debate about racially charged police brutality in America. Now, more about the incident that sparked it all has been revealed: thanks to a report by the New York Times,we finally have Officer Darren Wilson's account of Michael Brown's shooting. According to Wilson, he was assaulted by Brown, and afraid for his life — and there's forensic evidence to back that up. Crucially, though, there's no explanation about the minutes between the skirmish at the car and the fatal shooting, and that's where the answers lie.

Here's what we already knew: on August 9, Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, were walking down the street when they were stopped by Wilson, who ordered them to the sidewalk. Johnson said that there'd been a verbal confrontation, Wilson had held Brown through the car window, a shot had been fired, and then they'd tried to run away. Wilson has a different story.

According to Wilson's account in the Times' report, he'd been trying to leave his S.U.V when Brown — 18 years old, and unarmed — pushed him back in. They continued to physically struggle in the car, where Wilson claims Brown pinned him down, and made him "fear for his life." At one point, the teenager supposedly managed to grab Wilson's gun, which had been resting in its holster on the cop's right hip. Wilson told investigators that he'd been severely beaten, too; that Brown had scratched and punched him and left him with major cuts.

What the forensics tests found was this: two shots were definitely fired in the car. According to Wilson, one of the bullets hit Brown in the arm — the evidence seems to back this up. Forensics found Brown's blood on the gun, on Wilson's uniform, and on the inside door of the car. This seems to be in line with Wilson's version of events more than with Johnson's, but arguments could be made to support either case.

What Wilson's account can't answer, though — and what still remains at the crux of the issue — is why he would then have fired at Brown after they got out of the car, as Brown was running away. It doesn't explain why the unarmed teen was shot six times. As the Brown family attorney, Benjamin L. Crump, told the Times: "No matter what happened in the car, Michael Brown ran away from him.”

Without an explanation of those crucial last minutes, it still doesn't look like self defense. It still just looks like a teenager was shot dead by a man who happened to hold more power.

Image: Getty Images