Previous Related Posts:
Racist Rescue for Darren Wilson with @GoFundMe
Monday Night Mayhem in Ferguson
Heading to #Fergustan ~ Gov. Calls Out National Guard
Ferguson Update: Shooter Identified, Tanks Return
Journalists Attacked and Arrested in Ferguson
Ferguson Missouri Uses Militarized Police on Protestors
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Twitter was abuzz last week after material was released saying that Michael Brown had given police officer Darren Wilson an eye-socket fracture during their tussle through the window of a police car. Somehow Darren Wilson supporters thought that would mitigate or explain the way he shot the young man down in anger or pain or whatever.
The source was This post by Gateway Pundit
The Gateway Pundit can now confirm from two local St. Louis sources that police Officer Darren Wilson suffered facial fractures during his confrontation with deceased 18 year-old Michael Brown. Officer Wilson clearly feared for his life during the incident that led to the shooting death of Brown. This was after Michael Brown and his accomplice Dorian Johnson robbed a local Ferguson convenience store.
. . . Local St. Louis sources said Wilson suffered an “orbital blowout fracture to the eye socket.” This comes from a source within the Prosecuting Attorney’s office and confirmed by the St. Louis County Police.
Huh? RT @rustymk2: Hannity starting his show w/ "report” that #DarrenWilson has a fractured eye socket + was “beaten nearly unconscious”.
— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) August 21, 2014
The bogus eye report was accompanied by what appeared to be some type of diagram or X-ray of Wilson's head injury.
Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs exposed that the picture wasn't connected to Wilson at all, but was lifted from a website and edited:
And there’s more evidence that Hoft is trying to pull a fast one again; here is the original image posted at the AAPOS site, showing a CT scan of a blowout fracture (on the left), compared to the image posted at Gateway Pundit by Hoft (on the right):
Notice the difference? In the version posted by Jim Hoft, the text at bottom right that says “UNIV OF IOWA” has been crudely erased. Caught you, Jim.
Was Hoft trying to mislead his readers into thinking this was the actual X-ray (or CT scan) of Darren Wilson? His text does not make it clear it wasn’t Wilson’s CT scan — and the words “UNIV OF IOWA” have been blacked out, quite deliberately.
If Hoft’s intent was to mislead, it worked. All over Twitter and right wing blogs, the wingnuts are raving about “Darren Wilson’s X-ray” that shows a fractured eye socket — but this is just a generic example image of an unknown person’s CT scan.
CNN also reported that the whole story about the "Orbital Socket" injury wasn't true.
From CNN Transcript August 21, 2014
LEMON: OK. We're learning some information regarding officer Darren Wilson's supposed injuries that we have been discussing and talking about here.
One of those injuries that has not been reported by CNN, but it's making its way around other media organizations and also on the Internet -- here's the thing. So according to a source close to the investigation, the officer, Darren Wilson, did go to the hospital after the altercation and the shooting death of Michael Brown.
He did have X-rays done. He had a swollen face. But the X-rays for a broken or a torn eye socket came back negative. That source says it is not true at all. He did not have a torn eye socket. And so he is saying that unequivocally -- he unequivocally denies that, saying it did not happen. But he did have a swollen face. He did go for X-rays. And that is the very latest on that. But he said obviously there was some sort of scuffle, Brooke, because, you know, it was swollen. But that eye socket tear, whatever, it's called a tear or rupture or fracture to the orbital lobe -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: OK. OK, so a source saying he did not have this broken or fractured eye socket.
LEMON: Did not. Did not.
That won't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed this case, since Wilson is seen casually walking around Mike Brown's dead body in the street instead of holding onto his own eye and screaming in pain. No paramedics are seen giving him assistance either.
If Wilson's eye socket is fractured it's from recoil or getting one of his buds to sock him! No injury as he stood over body! #Ferguson
— Everywoman (@thinker128) August 20, 2014
ABC too MT @occbaystreet Fox says man in pic is beaten nearly unconscious w/broken eye socket. White dude #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/xVsIS7nstQ
— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) August 20, 2014
So you right-wing guys who believed that shattered eye socket #ferguson story must be real mad at RW media for misleading you, right? Guys?
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 24, 2014
Let me get this straight. Wilson's eye socket gets broken on Saturday, and neighbors see him out mowing lawn on Tuesday? Nope. #Ferguson
— Devin (@devbost) August 21, 2014
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The Non-Report
The Ferguson Police Department finally released a "report" on the death of Michael Brown, but there are some major problems. It is barely a report at all - just a one page of fill-in-the-blanks boilerplate with nothing attached to it.
As President Obama might say, quoting Gertrude Stein, "There's no there there." It's a non-report report.
View it here, via the ACLU
http://t.co/A9BYdJNnsF "The 'missing' #Ferguson PD Incident Report on the death of MichaelBrown? #omg" @Opferguson pic.twitter.com/e9Rj8OBVRH
— Trayvon Martin (@dierdrelewis) August 23, 2014
From The Wire
The incident report the Ferguson Police Department has on file has little more than the who, where and when of the shooting. It doesn't say what happened, it doesn't say how, and it wasn't even reviewed by a supervisor until 10 days after Michael Brown died. The report was given final approval on August 20.
. . . It's clear now that Ferguson police knew then that they didn't have the incident report they were asked to release. MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell argued that Jackson essentially admitted there was no incident report last week when he said "we've pretty much given you every bit of information that we have now — I don't think there's anything else that we have to give out."
Lawrence O'Donnell did indeed predict that there wouldn't be much of a report, and his reasoning was that Darren Wilson would be told by the Police Union attorney not to incriminate himself by putting the story of that day into writing, in effect, setting himself up to plead the fifth amendment. However, that is little consolation to the family of Michael Brown, or the citizens of Ferguson, or the country for that matter, that Darren Wilson is planning to avoid any responsibility for killing Michael Brown.
Ferguson PD: explain how you did an immediate detailed report on a kid taking $48 in cigarillos but no report on his death by FPD officer
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) August 22, 2014
Even if Darren Wilson immediately invoked his 5th Amend right to be silent, other #Ferguson PD who arrived on scene shd have done a report
— Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) August 22, 2014
@lisabloom: #DarrenWilson should be fired for not filing an incident report in the death of #MichaelBrown. #Lastword
— MKW (@rugcernie) August 22, 2014
From Yahoo News
The two-page document, which the Ferguson Police Department released only after pressure from journalists and civil liberties advocates, is largely redacted or left blank. The most egregious omissions are the victim’s name and a description of the offense – the fatal shooting of Brown.
“They are breaking the law,” said Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri.
The report, obtained by Yahoo News through the Missouri Sunshine Law, lists only the date, time and location. Fields for the type of incident, name of the complainant, and a summary of the circumstances are redacted.
. . . Missouri’s Sunshine Law states law enforcement agencies must promptly provide incident reports that include among other things, “name of the victim and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident.”
Please stop saying #MikeBrown didn't follow Wilson's orders. There's no incident report. We have no idea what, if any, orders were given.
— Nathania Johnson (@nlj) August 23, 2014
I've seen hotel stationery that was more informative than the #Ferguson PD police report on the #MikeBrown killing.
— John W. Ennis (@johnennis) August 23, 2014
No incident report; #Ferguson police are building their defense for #DarrenWilson. #MikeBrown
— Larry (@expedience2) August 22, 2014