Was there really a struggle between Brown & Wilson before the killing?
So, if you don't see a severe injury in a video you doubt there was a struggle? I didn't notice any bullet holes in the video of MB - does that mean he wasn't shot?
Both sides say there was a struggle, suggesting there wasn't seems unhelpful to any sensible discussion. How badly he was hurt in any struggle will depend on the evidence no doubt presented to the grand jury.
Re: whether the theft is a robbery or not - that is semantics that don't really matter (he's not going to be prosecuted or convicted for either now). He clearly used his size and presence to take what he wanted. We could be generous and pretend that was the first and only time he'd done that but it looked more like someone who had learnt that he could just take what he wanted by intimidating people smaller and weaker than he was.
I don't know how accurate it is but the cigars taken are apparently often used to smoke pot. Sorry, I can't remember where I read that but it seemed weird how focused things were on the exact thing stolen (even the police dispatch) or why a young man would want to steal cigars at all in the first place.
Here's an interesting read about a mixed race couple suggesting that Ferguson is becoming more racially divided in response to the incident, not that the incident happened so much because of racial divisions. There also appear to be many protestors intentionally trying to incite violence and a previous lack of involvement by the black community which I think is the main thing that needs to be addressed to solve the race issues. Complaining that the police are "too white" is unfairly passing the buck - there needs to be more people stepping forward to volunteer to help police their own community.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/17/us/ferguson-biracial-couple/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
Very sad seeing normal people and families having to live with such levels of fear and violence being threatened.
