7 takeaways from today’s Ferguson police report

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson this morning released the name of the officer involved in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, along with several pages of documents that appear to implicate Brown and another suspect in a convenience store robbery shortly before their confrontation with police.

The police report says that at 11:50 a.m. on Aug. 9 Ferguson Police responded to a call for a robbery in progress at a convenience store on West Florissant Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries. Officers were looking for a black male wearing a white t-shirt, khaki shorts, yellow socks and a red St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap. The suspect was reported as heading towards the QuikTrip.

A convenience store employee told police the suspect reached across the store counter and stole a box of Swisher Sweets cigars (valued at $48.99) before pushing the clerk into a display case and exiting the store.

Chief Jackson said at a second press conference on Friday afternoon that Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, did not know he was a robbery suspect at the time of their confrontation.

Here are some key takeaways from the police reports:

1. Much of the report is redacted. Names and addresses have clearly been omitted on multiple pages.

2. The suspects identified in the robbery are Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson; they are the only two people named in the report, along with their addresses (Johnson has since moved) and full physical descriptions. The convenience store clerk is listed only as ‘Manager.’

3. There is no evidence of alcohol or drug use.

4. Owners of the convenience store said they are ‘Willing to Prosecute,’ according a box checked on the report. It is not clear whether charges have been filed against Dorian Johnson, or whether he was ever arrested for the robbery, which is categorized as a 2nd-degree felony strong-arm robbery.

5. There is no mention of a weapon.

6. It’s difficult to make out any of the faces in the still photographs taken from grainy video footage by police. The suspect is wearing a red hat and white t-shirt, which is common in the greater St. Louis area where many men where a red St. Louis Cardinals’ cap.

7. The reports detailing the actual confrontation between Wilson and Brown were not included in the document release, but police records do mention that EMS was contacted at 12:04 p.m. — just minutes after officers initially responded to the alleged robbery at the convenience store — to go to Canfield Dr., where Brown was killed.