New Ferguson Video Shows Eyewitness With Hands in the Air

A cellphone video that shows the scene immediately after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson could support accounts that Brown was surrendering when he was killed.
New Ferguson Video Shows Eyewitness With Hands in the Air
In this Aug. 19, 2014, photo police watch as protesters march for Michael Brown, who was killed by police Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
9/14/2014
Updated:
9/14/2014

A cellphone video that shows the scene immediately after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson could support accounts that Brown was surrendering when he was killed. 

The amateur cellphone video, obtained by The Associated Press and first aired by CNN on Friday, is taken from a vantage point behind two out of town contractors watching a road in the distance where police are putting up crime scene tape. 

The video has not been independently verified by the Epoch Times. 

“He had his [expletive] hands in the air,” yells one of the two contractors, who CNN stated were about 50 feet from the scene. Both men spoke to CNN about the video on the condition of anonymity. Both the video and their comments to the news network coincide with other eyewitness accounts that Brown posed no threat at the time he was shot dead. 

It is not clear why the video has not surfaced until now; Brown was shot on Aug. 9 and days of sometimes-violent protests followed. Brown, an African-American, was shot by a white police officer. 

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The Brown family attorney, Benjamin Crump, described the video as “of paramount importance” and said that both construction workers decided to step forward and tell the family their account of the shooting. 

“It’s the best evidence you can have other than a video of the actual shooting itself,” Crump said. 

In an interview with CNN, one of the witnesses said that he heard two gunshots, and then saw Brown staggering as he tried to surrender.

He “put his hands in the air and said, ‘OK, OK, OK,’” said the witness. The same witness said, “The cop didn’t say get on the ground, he just kept shooting.”

It is likely that the video will be admissible evidence before the Ferguson grand jury along with the workers’ testimonies, said Peter Joy, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. The grand jury has been considering whether to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, and is expected to announce its decision in mid-October. 

One of the most compelling parts of the video, according to Joy’s analysis, is not what the construction workers say, but what they do.

“The thing that strikes me is we actually have a film of what’s going on and while it’s hard to hear the construction workers say what they’re saying, you have one construction worker putting his hands up in the air, which appears to be him demonstrating what he’s seeing,” Joy said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.