Ear Hustle

Michael Brown’s Friend Who Witnessed Ferguson Shooting Arrested In St. Louis On Drug Charges

Dorian Johnson

Photo Credit: Laurie Skrivan

A key witness to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, has been arrested on charges of drug possession and resisitng arrest.

Dorian Johnson, best known for falsely claiming that Brown, 18, called out ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ before Officer Darren Wilson opened fire on him in August 2014, was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon.

Johnson was arrested on Acme Avenue in St Louis at around 3.20pm along with his two brothers.

Police sources told St Louis Post Dispatch Johnson tried to get rid of narcotics and ‘interfere’ with officers as they were trying to arrest one of his brothers on a drug charge.

His other sibling was arrested on a warrant related to an armed robbery.

Johnson himself was taken into custody for resisting arrest, even though police sources said the young man ‘was not combative and did not physically confront officers,’ according to Fox 2 Now.

He is also accused of discarding narcotics. Police said Johnson was in possession of a drug-laced cough medicine, which he hurled to the ground.

Dorian Johnson is expected to be formally charged as early as Thursday.

His arrest comes just days day after Johnson filed a lawsuit against the City of Ferguson, former officer Darren Wilson and the town’s ousted police chief.

Johnson contends in his lawsuit that Wilson initiated the confrontation that ended in Brown’s. He claims that Wilson used excessive force and ‘acted with deliberate indifference or reckless disregard’ for Johnson’s rights.

A grand jury and the US Justice Department declined to charge Wilson, who has left the police force

Dorian Johnson

Photo Credit: AP

Johnson is seeking damages of at least $25,000 for psychological scars and emotional distress.

On August 9, 2014, Johnson was walking with Michael Brown back to his house in Ferguson when he and Wilson got in tussle that ended in tragedy and led to weeks of violent demonstrations.

Dorian Johnson later publicly claimed that Brown’s last words to Wilson were, ‘hands up, don’t shoot’ – a phrase that had become a rallying cry for protesters from coast to coast.

In the months following the shooting, a grand jury was unable to corroborate Johnson’s version of events, and the US Department of Justice similarly failed to find evidence that Brown tried to surrender to Wilson.

Source: Daily Mail

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