It does not directly show a penchant to use excessive force, but it certainly shows a tendency to abuse power and the details of the incident may show a willingness to make false claims to justify his actions. A short video emerged yesterday (video after the jump) of an incident in 2013 in which Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, arrested a man for videotaping him.
“If you wanna take a picture of me one more time, I’m gonna lock your ass up,” Wilson tells Mike Arman, who had asked for Wilson’s name. Arman replies: “Sir, I’m not taking a picture, I’m recording this incident sir.”
At that point Wilson arrests Arman.
The 15 second clip was posted yesterday and The Guardian has a full report, with an interview with Arman and matching it up to police reports from 2013.
The backstory to the incident, according to the Guardian report, is that Wilson arrived at Arman’s residence to “issue a court summons regarding derelict vehicles that were being left on the property in violation of city rules.” The report also notes that Arman has a criminal record and had previously been charged with resisting arrest. But the video shows no evidence of that in this case. And the details of the arrest – comparing Wilson’s report to the videotape as well as Arman’s claims after the fact – may provide evidence of Wilson’s propensity to file false reports to justify his actions.
