USA Today writer Josh Hafner writes an article today in the publication that reports how the has hashtag #BlackLivesMatter grew into a movement, and the commenters on the article have scorched him with critisim.
Hafner cites the death of Michael Brown, an 18-year old man who fought with police officer Darren Wilson in the middle of a street in Ferguson, Missouri.
Brown would lose his life that day at the hands of the police officer and Hafner reported it this way.
"Since police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown two years ago Tuesday in Ferguson, Mo., the words “Black Lives Matter” have morphed from a public outcry into a national movement."
That seem to spark the ire of commenters on the website.
Check a few of those out:
"Is this the same Michael Brown that robbed a convenience store 30 minutes prior? Is this the same Michael Brown that reached into the car to attempt to take an officers gun? Is this the same Michael Brown that charged the officer prior to being shot? Just want to make sure we are talking about the same guy that inspired the BLM movement."
"You would not know from this article that the kid attacked a cop and got shot and killed. What is with the white guilt ridden media? Facts matter not."
"Brown was unarmed until he grabbed Officer Wilson's gun. This National Moment of Silence should be for Officer Wilson whose life was ruined by this nonsense!"
More comments here.
The DOJ did reveal Michael Brown was trying to get the police officer's gun when he was first shot that day and the way Hafner presented Brown as an innocent victim as opposed to the aggressor seems to infuriate some of his readers.
"Brown then grabbed the weapon and struggled with Wilson to gain control of it. Wilson fired, striking Brown in the hand. Autopsy results and bullet trajectory, skin from Brown’s palm on the outside of the SUV door as well as Brown’s DNA on the inside of the driver’s door corroborate Wilson’s account that during the struggle, Brown used his right hand to grab and attempt to control Wilson’s gun. According to three autopsies, Brown sustained a close range gunshot wound to the fleshy portion of his right hand at the base of his right thumb. Soot from the muzzle of the gun found embedded in the tissue of this wound coupled with indicia of thermal change from the heat of the muzzle indicate that Brown’s hand was within inches of the muzzle of Wilson’s gun when it was fired. The location of the recovered bullet in the side panel of the driver’s door, just above Wilson’s lap, also corroborates Wilson’s account of the struggle over the gun and when the gun was fired, as do witness accounts that Wilson fired at least one shot from inside the SUV."
Is the reader's criticism of Hafner fair?