FBI Joins Investigation into Teen's Death
WHITFIELD: The FBI has joined the investigation into the death of Michael Brown. Attorney General Eric Holder says the bureau is there to, quote, "supplement rather than supplant the investigation by local authorities." Joining me right now is CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes. He is also the former assistant director of the FBI. Good to see you, Tom.</s>TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Hi, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: So there are multiple investigations going on right now. You've got the shooting death itself. The alleged robbery. The behavior of the Ferguson officer, Darren Wilson, and then there is the investigation of the investigation, so in your view what will the FBI be focusing on specifically?</s>FUENTES: Well, the FBI is going to be look looking at whether the shooting death is not justified. If Officer Wilson shot him and should not have, and of course, Michael Brown did die as a result of those shots, then that violates federal statute that the authorities deprived Brown of his civil rights under color of law, meaning it's not somebody else down the street, it's not a private security guard, it's a police officer in uniform, on duty, acting as a police officer. And then he used force that was not necessary or excessive. I think in -- from what I've heard, the very first shooting that starts the violent confrontation with Brown and Officer Wilson, that very first shooting may never really be resolved. What happened at the door of that police car that resulted in that first shot, that's going to be, you know, very difficult to prove one way or the other since Michael Brown cannot explain his side of it. But when Brown walks away or goes down the street, the officer pursued him. You have witnesses saying Brown tried to surrender and that he raised his hands and then, after raising his hands, after surrendering, was shot multiple times, that's going to be something that's going to be very difficult for Wilson to overcome. And in my view if that can be proven in federal court that Brown was surrendering and was killed after the attempt to surrender, Wilson will probably go to federal prison.</s>WHITFIELD: So that is the point. That's the real turning point in your view as to how and why and whether the FBI or the federal law enforcement end of this will be able to, you know, pursue, I guess, some real answers. It's not that first shot, but it's the shot that comes after Brown's hands go up?</s>FUENTES: Actually it's everything. And you know, the media reporting has been kind of helter-skelter. One minute we talk about the video, the next minute we talk about the looting. The next minute -- what the authorities will be doing is a methodical, chronological approach to what happened, and it will include what happened at that store because it's important. And even if Wilson did not know about the robbery, as he claims, and that may be able to show, you know, to release the dispatch tapes or recordings from the police department, if you have a dispatcher putting out to all the units the description of two suspects that have just committed a strong-arm robbery, then if Wilson heard that, that changes everything. Now he's trying to make a felony stop and maybe he didn't follow procedure. But even if Wilson did not know that Brown -- anything about the convenience store robbery, if he was completely unaware of it, Brown knew. And Brown's family attorneys have conceded that was him. That was Big Mike in that store taking the cigars and then using force, shoving the employee of the store against the display rack. So the fact that Brown committed that act means Brown knew he did something. And if Brown is strolling down the street and a police car approaches him and an officer yells out to him, in Brown's mind, you would expect him to think, uh-oh, I'm going to be taken into custody. This is going to be confrontational. He's not being asked to get off the street for jaywalking or obstructing traffic or anything like that in his own mind. Now maybe in Wilson's mind, but certainly not in Brown's mind. He would have known what he just did 10 minutes earlier.</s>WHITFIELD: But if Officer Wilson didn't know about this, you know, alleged robbery and he stopped or questioned Brown on the street, in your view based on what we know from eyewitness accounts or even from what the police chief is revealing, was there probable cause to even stop Brown, just because he was walking in the middle of the street? We've heard nothing from eyewitnesses who say he was blocking traffic, obstructing, you know, the flow of traffic in any way, so what was the probable cause --</s>FUENTES: Well, you know, it --</s>WHITFIELD: -- because he was walking in the middle?</s>FUENTES: You're right, it could be, you know, harassment. But, you know, technically it's a violation. If you have sidewalks, you're supposed to use the sidewalk. So, you know, you could say that this is harassment. You know, the average cop is going to drive right by somebody and if they actually aren't blocking traffic, they're not going to, you know, get involved with something like that. But what's in Brown's mind is very important. Let me give you a quick example. When I was in charge of the FBI in Indiana, we had a case involved an Indiana State Trooper on Interstate 80 near Chicago, saw a motorist on the shoulder of the interstate changing a flat tire. He radioed in, I'm going to assist this motorist, I'm at such and such location. Parks his car on the shoulder behind. Gets out, goes to help this person and is immediately gunned down, shot dead on the street. What the officer didn't know -- he thought he's doing just helping a citizen. What he didn't know is that person had just stolen the car and it hadn't been reported yet. So the person -- that's why he guns down the officer and this is something -- you know, I was a street cop for six years before becoming an FBI agent for 30. This is something police officers face every day is that you don't know what the other person may have just done, what they're thinking, what their mental state is, are they intoxicated. You know, there's many things that come up that police officers encounter. It's not as clear-cut as it often looks to outside observers. And that's what's important in this case. What was on -- what did Brown do? What was he thinking when it came to that officer? That's one issue. The second issue is, you know, you have that store clerk now receiving death threats. You have, you know, others in the community, the other shop owners being looted, they're being threatened. Even if you had a witness in that community that saw something different concerning the confrontation, concerning whether Brown surrendered or didn't, what is the likelihood somebody now will come out publicly and argue a different position that favors the police officer? Nobody in their right mind is going to want to do that and get themselves hurt because there's such a complete sentiment ready to hang Officer Wilson in this instance and there may be more to the story. And it's just that all of these facts, and I'm not taking Officer Wilson's side. As I've said, if he did what was alleged about gunning him down after surrendering, he will go to prison.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>FUENTES: He should go to prison if that's what happened, so I'm not taking his side. I'm trying to be fair to all sides.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>FUENTES: And there's so much emotion in this, we don't know chronologically every step by step by step yet --</s>WHITFIELD: You're absolutely correct.</s>FUENTES: -- of what happened.</s>WHITFIELD: All thought-provoking points. Thanks so much, Tom Fuentes. Appreciate it.</s>FUENTES: You're welcome.</s>WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.