By FRANCES ROBLES and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTAUG in The New York Times
FERGUSON, Mo. — As a county grand jury prepared to hear evidence on Wednesday in the shooting death of a black teenager by a white police officer that touched off 10 days of unrest here, witnesses have given investigators sharply conflicting accounts of the killing.
Some of the accounts seem to agree on how the fatal altercation initially unfolded: with a struggle between the officer, Darren Wilson, and the teenager, Michael Brown. Officer Wilson was inside his patrol car at the time, while Mr. Brown, who was unarmed, was leaning in through an open window.
Many witnesses also agreed on what happened next: Officer Wilson’s firearm went off inside the car, Mr. Brown ran away, the officer got out of his car and began firing toward Mr. Brown, and then Mr. Brown stopped, turned around and faced the officer.
But on the crucial moments that followed, the accounts differ sharply, officials say. Some witnesses say that Mr. Brown, 18, moved toward Officer Wilson, possibly in a threatening manner, when the officer shot him dead. But others say that Mr. Brown was not moving and may even have had his hands up when he was killed.
Read more at The New York Times
The Progressive Democrat 
This has been terrible to watch and I feel for the community and family. I understand the distrust and outrage while I can only hope for peace and justice. So much time has passed now that the facts get blurred. We have to do a better job than this.
Militarizing our police force upsets me deeply. It looks horrible and I could not imagine living there. Maybe we should look at the cost of expanding one right at the expense of another.
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