Officer Darren Wilson Feels Fine About Killing Michael Brown Like He Was Trained To Do

Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson is ready to sell his story of the time he was viciously attacked, for no good reason, by teenager Michael Brown. And oh, it is such a tragic tale -- for Wilson.

In an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, Wilson finally tells his side of the story.

"It was just a normal day," he says of the day he was forced to kill Brown. "And I was patrolling my area." He very politely asked the two young men he encountered if they'd mind stopping to chit chat with him for a moment. And that's when things got ugly. For Wilson. Brown's first words to him were, "Fuck what you have to say."

Not that it matters, but MSNBC's Chris Hayes interviewed Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson, Tuesday, and the young man had some of that "inconsistent testimony" we heard so much about from prosecutor Robert McCulloch -- inconsistent with Wilson, that is. Johnson has said from the beginning that Wilson's first words to Brown and him were not a polite "why don't you guys walk on the sidewalk" (Wilson's true version), but instead shouted "Get the fuck on the sidewalk!" (Johnson's unbelievable false version). Again, not that these differing views will ever be subjected to cross-examination.

That rudeness on Brown's behalf, plus noticing those already infamously stolen cigarillos in his hands, made “it all click” for Wilson, and he realized in that moment that these two youths who were criminally walking in the street like a couple of gangsta jaywalkers, were the suspects from the store robbery that had happened only moments before.

And after Wilson very politely asked to speak to these two incredibly dangerous petty theft thieves for a moment of their time and Brown said a swear at him, Brown then “aggressively” refused to talk to him. So disrespectful! He even slammed Wilson’s car door shut on him. Not a gentleman!

Wilson was “taken aback” because he’d never been “trapped” in his car before -- certainly not by some kid who used the f-word! -- so he used his door to try to push Wilson away in self-defense (even though it had just been slammed shut, but whatever, details, meh), and then Brown STARED at him. He STARED, the monster. The “demon.”

“It looked like he was trying to intimidate me,” the fearful Wilson says.

That’s when “punches started flying” -- by which Wilson means that Brown punched HIM in the face, leaving a shockingly invisible mark on the officer’s face. Did Wilson try to fight back to defend himself? Of course not.

Stephanopoulos reminded him that some witnesses (not the ones who matter, of course, at least not to the prosecuting attorney and the grand jury) say they saw Wilson try to pull Brown into the car. But that would be unpossible!

“That would be against every training ever taught to law enforcement,” Wilson explains. As we’ve all learned, the correct response when an uppity f-bomb-dropping teenager starts “throwing punches” is to shoot him dead in the street. That’s just company policy.

So Wilson just took it, like a man, amidst the “barrage of swinging and grabbing and pulling.” And we know now, from the pictures released this week, just how devastating those injuries were.

Wilson could not imagine “what provoked such a response,” given that he’d merely been trying to make some polite conversation with these two men he’d already concluded were dangerous criminals.

“My goal, when I originally tried to get out of the car, was to get out and just talk with them for 30 seconds until back-up arrived,” Wilson says. Sure, because when you’re dealing with “aggressive” suspects, you really just want to talk it out.

But when Wilson tried to grab Brown’s arm, to protect himself, he “felt the immense power that he had.” Guess that would be that mutant supervillain power we’ve since learned Brown was capable of.

“It was like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan. That’s how big this man was.” Even though Brown was the same height as Wilson, but Wilson’s a white guy, see, and not capable of superhuman strength, so it’s different because … because.

The next question for Wilson, after being continuously pummeled by Brown, was, “How do I survive?” Because he didn’t know if he’d be “able to withstand another hit like that. You hear all the time, one punch and someone gets knocked out.” That’s probably part of the official police training too, right? Beware the punch of an Angry Black Man with super strength.

In those moments when Wilson feared for his life, there was one thing he knew he could rely on: his training for how to defend himself from a Big Black Dude.

“My training overrode everything you could ever think," Wilson explains. "I mean, training just kicked in.” Of course, he’d been trained to use mace in such a situation, but Wilson’s training told him thatthattraining was insufficient. So he turned to the next option he’d been trained to consider: his firearm.

Wilson pulled his gun and told Brown, “Get back or I’m going to shoot you.” But Brown, being a much bigger and blacker man, laughed an evil laugh and grabbed Wilson’s hand with the gun, a situation for which, sadly, his training had not prepared him.

“At that point, I envisioned a bullet going into my leg.” And because he envisioned it, it was obvious what he had to do next.

Wilson tried to shoot Brown, but Brown was so powerful that he was able to stop the gun from firing. He was THAT strong and powerful and aggressive and black that he was able to disable a gun with his big black hands.

But Wilson kept trying to fire his gun, to no avail, because he knew if he didn’t at least keep trying to shoot Brown, he’d end up the dead one.

But third time’s the charm, and finally, when Wilson pulled the trigger, it worked. Shots fired at last! But sadly it went into the car door instead of into Michael Brown.

It was the first time a big scary black man had ever forced Wilson to use his gun. And he was “in shock.” But, Wilson says, “it was the only option” he had.

Somehow, praise Buddha, being the great policeman he was, with all of that training, he recovered from his shock to continue defending himself from the teenager who was clearly -- in Wilson’s own mind, anyway -- trying to kill him. Because now, for reasons we can’t possibly imagine, Brown seemed even angrier! Who knows why? Probably nothing to do with a police officer shooting at him.

Wilson tried to shoot him again, but again, Brown was able to keep the gun from firing with the power of his mind and his blackness.

“Again, training just kicked in. I never even thought about this.” And training told him to keep trying to fire that gun by any means necessary.

This is when, according to Wilson, Brown tried to run away. So of course Wilson, cowering in fear for his life, got out of his car to chase after the man who’s trying to kill him by running away. He says he called for back-up on his police walkie talkie, except that no one actually got that message because it was tuned to the wrong frequency, darn the luck. But he really did do it, he swears!

With back-up supposedly on the way, Wilson might have felt reassured, but no. Because of that stare, that horrible stare, of Michael Brown’s. The “I’m a demon and I’m gonna get you!” stare that rocked Wilson’s soul and made him fear for his life in this “fight for survival."

“It was a very intense, intense image he was presenting,” Wilson says. “And it still doesn’t make sense to me why someone would act in that way and be so mad instantly, so aggressive instantly.”

Yeah, we’re trying to imagine what could possibly have provoked Michael Brown, but we’re coming up completely blank. Too bad we haven’t had all that police training. Maybe they teach a class on how shooting at someone doesn’t normally anger them, so if you do get a total stare-down once you start firing at them, you should be immediately alarmed.

Wilson wasn’t trying to arrest him. Certainly not trying to kill him. He was just trying to “maintain a visual on him.” And yet … somehow Wilson ended up shooting at Brown another 10 times until he was dead in the street. Somehow.

The good news is that Wilson feels just fine about it.

"I don't think its haunting. It's always going to be something that happened," he says. "The reason I have a clean conscience is because I know I did my job right."

Whew. What a relief. Michael Brown might be dead, but at least Officer Wilson can sleep at night. That's really what matters, isn't it?

[ TPM ]