Ferguson film fallout: New video footage released

UNITED STATES: St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. Mcculloch yesterday released unedited footage from the Ferguson Market to try to settle questions raised by what he called a ‘‘pretty pathetic attempt at a video production’’ that led to a protest outside the store on Sunday (local time).

Mcculloch said the footage shown in the independent documentary Stranger Fruit was known to police and investigators when they looked into the police shooting death of Michael Brown in 2014.

But it was deemed ‘‘not relevant or admissible,’’ to the grand jury weighing charges against the officer, and therefore not released to the public.

Video shows Michael Brown attempting to buy Cigarillos and drinks, and putting a small unidentified package on the counter. The clerks appear to smell it and inspect it. Brown attempts to leave, but returns the bag of goods after clerks appear to call to him. The clerks then put the merchandise away.

The film’s creator and narrator, Jason Pollock, and Brown’s mother, Lezley Mcspadden, allege that the video shows Brown trading a store clerk marijuana for Cigarillos about 11 hours before he was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014. Pollock and Brown’s mother claim that disproves the police notion that Brown was robbing the store shortly before he was killed.

Mcculloch said the footage Pollock used had been altered, and the complete version shows Brown ‘‘attempting to barter’’ with store employees, who refused the package put on the counter. Brown returned the merchandise to the counter and took back the small package before leaving the store, Mcculloch said. The footage then shows an employee putting the Cigarillos back on the shelves after Brown leaves, Mcculloch said.

‘‘It’s not as though (this footage) was hidden away somewhere, as this fellow with his video project was trying to say,’’ Mcculloch said. ‘‘Even his pathetic video shows the police report where he got the information. It’s all there, and it’s been there since 2014. It’s all available and not edited.

‘‘This is a clear attempt to distort this and turn it into something it isn’t. There was no transaction, but there certainly was an attempt to barter for these goods, but the store employees had no involvement in that, and when he left, they put everything where it belonged. It’s very clear there was no transaction between Mr Brown and the store employees, and to suggest he’s coming back to get what he bartered for is just stupid.’’ - TNS