Ferguson Police Detail Moments Before Michael Brown Was Shot

Ferguson Police Department(FERGUSON, Mo.) — Police reports detailing the moments before a police officer shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown claim that Brown stole $48.99 worth of cigars from a convenience store and manhandled a store employee who tried to stop him.

The description of the alleged theft was included in a packet of police reports distributed by the Ferguson Police Department Friday when they identified Officer Darren Wilson as the cop who shot Brown. The packet of information gave a detailed description of the alleged theft and the suspect, but it included no details of Brown’s confrontation with Wilson.

Anthony Rothert, the legal director for the Missouri branch of the ACLU, had sued Tuesday for the release of the incident report describing Brown’s shooting.

“I think it’s fair to say that releasing some records, but not releasing others when they’re equally public record seems to be an intentional effort to distract the public,” Rothert told ABC News. “They’re hiding it for whatever reason…That leaves the public to imagine why that’s being hidden.”

“They’ve given us the wrong incident report,” Rothert said.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appeared to be surprised by the release of the robbery report.

“New facts are out…those are not the full picture of everything,” Nixon said. “They’re pieces of information.”

Among the 19 pages of reports in the police packet released Friday was a report written by the police officer who responded to the 911 call regarding the store robbery. That officer watched a store surveillance video of the theft. He also responded to a report of Wilson’s fatal confrontation with Brown.

“It is worth mentioning that this incident (the store robbery) is related to another incident,” the officer wrote. “In that incident Brown was fatally wounded…I responded to that scene and observed Brown. After viewing Brown and reviewing the video, I was able to confirm that Brown is the primary suspect in this incident.”

Below is a moment by moment description of what happened on Aug. 9 according to reports by the Ferguson police department and statements made on Friday by Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson:

11:48 a.m. — Wilson was on a “sick call” where an ambulance had been summoned. Details of the sick call were not released.

11:51 a.m. — Police receive a 911 call from a convenience store on W. Florissant Avenue that reported “stealing in progress.”

The officer’s report said that the suspect identified throughout the report as Brown ordered several boxes of Swisher Sweet cigars. As the boxes were stacked on the counter, the suspect handed one of the boxes to his friend identified as Dorian Johnson. When the store employee asked to be paid, the suspect “reached across the counter and grabbed numerous packs of Swisher Sweets and turned to leave the store,” the report states.

The employee came out from behind the counter and tried to lock the door and stop the suspect from leaving. The suspect “grabbed REDACTED by the shirt and forcefully pushed him back in to a display rack,” the officer’s report states. The suspect left the store, but returned “and advances on REDACTED. Brown towers over REDACTED appearing to intimidate him,” the officer wrote.

During the confrontation between the suspect and the store employee, Johnson put back on the counter the box of cigars that he had been holding.

11:52 a.m. — A police dispatcher gave a description of the robbery suspect over the radio. The suspect is described as wearing a white T-shirt, long khaki shorts, yellow socks, flip-flop type shoes and a red Cardinals baseball cap. Wilson left the sick call after hearing the report of the robbery.

11:54 a.m. — A police officer arrived at the store, but the suspects were gone. The officer is told the suspects walked north on W. Florissant Avenue, but the officer did not see them.

12:01 p.m. — Officer Wilson encountered Brown. In previous statements, Chief Jackson said Wilson was pushed back into his car and that he and Brown struggled before Wilson fired at Brown.

12:04 p.m. — A second officer arrived “at the scene of the shooting,” Jackson said.

12:05 p.m. — A police supervisor arrived on the scene.

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