Supporters of suspect Michael Brown and supporters of police officers on the scene may never agree on what happened on Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, but they both likely agree the incident led to the escalation of the use of body cameras by law enforcement officials.
The 18-year-old Brown, a Black suspect in a robbery, was shot by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson during a confrontation between the two. Supporters of Brown say he had his hands up in surrender; supporters of police say the suspect was charging the officer.
No recordings of the event exist, and eyewitness accounts conflict. In hindsight, most everyone involved says a body camera would have been helpful.
"We need to work together to fix the system that allowed this to happen," a statement at the time from Brown's family read. "Join with us in our campaign to ensure that every police officer working the streets in this country wears a body camera."
"Police realize that they're under greater levels of public scrutiny," Art Lurigio, a professor of psychology and criminal justice at Loyola University Chicago, told Time magazine in 2014. "And the Michael Brown case is elevating this urgency. It's bringing this discussion of cameras to a more fevered pitch."
By 2016, nearly half the country's 12,267 local police departments had employed police body cameras, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Since then, ever more sophisticated body cameras, cellphone footage and security cameras across the country have exonerated and implicated police and the individuals they've encountered.
An incident in Chattanooga last week that is still under investigation, though, shows what can happen when video footage out of context is shared.
The incident in question shows an officer chasing, tackling and arresting a suspect in front of a shopping center on Gunbarrel Road. He punches him once while repeatedly yelling "put your f------ hands behind your back now."
The footage was posted first to TikTok and later shared on Facebook by social justice advocate and Chattanooga City Council candidate Marie Mott. Her Facebook post says, "This young man is 16 years old and being chased down by a Chattanooga Police officer before being punched while detained."
She had more to say on social media.
"We are currently waiting to hear back from one of the assistant police chiefs to get body cam footage from the incident," she wrote. "Yes, this young man is running, but once detained he should not be getting assaulted by an officer."
So, was this just another out-of-control police officer taking out his jollies on a youth whose only offense was running while Black? Was he a knee and a few punches away from being the local version of George Floyd? Was it further evidence of systemic racism?
Since the incident is still under investigation, we offer no opinion on whether the police action was justified. But, as Chattanooga Police Chief David Roddy noted in a statement, "There is more to this situation than a 20-second video clip posted to social media.
"Officers responded that night to an ongoing, violent and tense situation with continually evolving circumstances," he said. "Those circumstances ranged from providing medical attention to a seriously injured community member, an active search for violent suspects to ultimately placing all suspects in custody."
Hamilton County court records help fill in the story. Earlier, three people walked into a nearby Moe's Southwest Grill, began flipping over tables and terrorizing employees, according to the affidavit of criminal complaint. The restaurant manager had his phone "snatched" and was "hit and kicked" and wound up with lacerations to his head and face, broken bones and bruised ribs. Another employee said one of the suspects tried to hit her with a table but missed.
Available video footage of the trashed restaurant offers witness to what took place.
The suspects attempted to flee police, a 22-year-old man in a car and two 16-year-old juveniles on foot. One juvenile was found under another car, and the other fled across Gunbarrel Road parking lots. Of that suspect, police said, "It took two officers to eventually take him into custody due to the suspect's continued attempts to physically resist arrest as is evident in a brief video clip posted to social media."
The suspects all were charged with robbery, aggravated assault, interference with 911 calls, evading arrest, resisting arrest and inciting a riot.
What police body camera footage of the incident may show is not known, but what is known is that the original social media footage was only a tiny part of the story. To have judged the incident out of context is not fair to anyone involved.