Protests erupted yet again in Ferguson, Mo., in light of a new documentary that suggests Mike Brown didn’t actually rob the Ferguson Market & Liquor store before his encounter with Officer Darren Wilson.
The “Stranger Fruit” documentary, created by activist Jason Pollock, debuted at SXSW over the weekend. In the documentary, Pollock shows allegedly unseen footage of Brown in the liquor store. The documentary suggests Brown gave the store clerk a bag of marijuana in exchange for cigarillos and did not, in fact, rob the store.
Pollock told the New York Times, “They destroyed Michael’s character with the tape, and they didn’t show us what actually happened.”
“So this shows their intention to make him look bad. And shows suppression of evidence,” Pollock continued.
He also told CNN, “This is a shady store. We've asked a lot of people in this community. You can buy weed at the store.”
Attorney Jay Kanzler, who represents Ferguson Market & Liquor, said, "The clerks gave back the marijuana — or whatever is in the bag.”
"You can't have a drug transaction, as implied by the documentary, if you don't have a transaction,” he continued.
The co-owner of the market, And Patel, maintains that Brown stole the cigarillos.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that on Sunday night, approximately 100 people gathered to protest in front of the store. The publication reports seven or eight gunshots were heard across the street during the protest.
Regardless of whether Brown robbed the market, the St. Louis Police Department determined it is irrelevant to their investigation into Wilson.
The St. Louis County Police said, “If it did occur, the incident is still irrelevant to our investigation because our department investigated the encounter between Michael Brown and Darren Wilson.”
Former Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson previously said the alleged robbery “does not relate to the initial contact between the officer and Michael Brown.”
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