On September 28, 2016, Darren Wilson, a white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in what has come to be known as the “Black Lives Matter” case. Wilson has not been charged with a crime, but the shooting sparked months of civil unrest and protests across the country.
Daniel L. Kanter, an attorney for Wilson, said Wilson only shot Brown when the unarmed teenager advanced toward him and pointed a gun at his face. But video of the shooting shows a different story. Instead of advancing toward Wilson with his hands in the air, Brown is standing in front of him with his back to him.
The video also shows the dashcam in Wilson’s police cruiser rolling at a speed so high that its siren can be heard. Brown was standing in front of Wilson, and it appears as though his actions were distracting the officer from his first, secondary shooter.
Using this information, the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office has added four counts of second-degree assault to the charges against Wilson — four separate occurrences between September 21 and September 26, 2016, according to CNN legal analyst Ari Marcopoulos.
The new allegations were included in Wilson’s charge sheet, which was made public on Monday, and was filed on Thursday. A judge has unsealed the document.
Wilson is facing three separate charges for assault involving Wilson’s two bodyguards, Lee Jackson and Mark Taranto. While Wilson has not been charged in the shooting, the new allegations detail a series of events that occurred after Brown was killed.
In the charges, there’s no mention of how Brown was killed, which is why some are suggesting this charge sheet could be aimed at influencing the jury pool.
CNN has been unable to independently verify these allegations. When contacted by CNN, Wilson’s lawyers said they had not yet seen the charges.