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Michael Brown Shooting: Teenager's family call Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson's account of son's death 'crazy'

“He didn’t do what he had to do, he did what he wanted to do,” Michael Brown's mother said today of the officer who shot her son

Kashmira Gander
Wednesday 26 November 2014 23:05 GMT
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The mother of Michael Brown has described the “heartbreaking” ordeal she has faced since a grand jury did not indict white Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson for killing her black unarmed son.

Lesley McSpadden said Wilson “added insult to injury”, after he said her son looked demonic during their confrontation on 9 August, which resulted in Wilson shooting Brown dead.

During an interview with NBC’s Today programme on Wednesday, McSpadden said that Wilson’s account of the events that led to her son’s death “sound crazy”.

Wilson claims that the teenager trapped him in his car during a struggle when Brown repeatedly punched him in the face. He claims he then fired a shot at Brown, who initially ran before turning to charge at the officer as the unarmed teenager reached into his waistband – suggesting he had a gun.

“He wouldn't do anything to provoke anyone to do anything to him, and he wouldn't do anything to anybody.”

“For one, my son, he respected law enforcement,” the teenager's father Michael Brown Senior told the programme. “Two, who in their right mind would rush or charge at a police officer that has his gun drawn? It sounds crazy," Yahoo! News reported.

“I know my son far too well to know he wouldn't ever do anything like that,” McSpadden said on CBS’ This Morning.

“He didn’t do what he had to do, he did what he wanted to do,” said McSpadden, referring to allegations that her son stole cigarillos before he was killed. She said the incident could have been dealt with in a way that didn’t result in her son being shot and killed.

“I don’t think he wanted to kill my son, but I think he wanted to kill someone,” she went on.

Addressing Wilson’s interview with ABC in which he said his conscience is clear over her son's death, she said before breaking into tears: “You’re conscious is clear, how could your conscious be clear after killing somebody? Even if it was an accidental death?”

McSpadden went on to claim that no officials in Ferguson had offered their condolences for the family's loss. “We’ve just been disrespected all around,” said Brown’s father.

Asked what he would have said in the grand jury room, Mr Brown replied: “Why? Why? Why did you [Wilson] choose to wake up with a chip on your shoulder and do what you did to our son? Not just to our son, but to any human being?”

McSpadden also urged that she had not seen a video of her husband, Brown’s stepfather Louis Head, shouting: “Burn this b*tch down” to angry protesters following the grand jury’s verdict on Monday night.

She says the crowd “was already stirred” and that she holds the authorities, not her husband, responsible for the protests.

Following his first televised interview on the shooting with ABC yesterday, Wilson told Good Morning American today that he “never wanted to take anybody's life” and feels sorry about the death of the teenager.

ABC then asked Wilson if there was anything he'd like to say to the Brown family.

“I think those are grieving parents who are mourning the loss of their son,” he said.

He added: “I don’t think there’s anything I could say, but, again, I’m sorry that their son lost his life. It wasn’t the intention of that day. It’s what occurred that day, and there’s nothing you can say that’s going to make a parent feel better.”

Additional reporting by AP

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