It is not easy telling the same story, when that story is a lie.
Darren Wilson changed his story following the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown to include events about which he initially denied all knowledge.
Evidence presented to the grand jury and reviewed by MailOnline has revealed a crucial difference between the officer’s first account of events given to his squad supervisor on the scene and his second statement to St Louis County detectives investigating the shooting.
In Wilson’s now very public account of his encounter with Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson on August 9 he has claimed that he asked Brown and Wilson to move to the sidewalk rather than walk in the street.
When they walked on, Wilson has repeatedly stated, he realized they matched the description of two suspects wanted in connection with the robbery of nearby Ferguson Market. A youth matching Brown’s description had stolen a box of Swishers cigarillos.
It was this realization, he stated, that caused him to reverse his vehicle and sparked the car-side confrontation that left Brown dead on the street with six bullets in his body.
But the sworn testimony of Wilson’s squad supervisor directly contradicts this account.
Wilson’s supervisor was the first officer to speak with the 28-year-old cop following the shooting. The men spoke before St Louis County Police had even been notified of the incident and before the medical examiner or investigating officers had arrived on the scene.
At that time, the supervisor said:’He [Wilson] did not know anything about the stealing call.’
When pressed by the attorney questioning him, the officer reiterated that Wilson, ‘did not know anything’.
Asked, ‘He told you he didn’t know about there being a stealing at Ferguson Market?’
The officer responded, ‘Correct.’