On December 2, 2014, the Washington Post published a blog post by S.J. Quinney College of Law Professor Paul Cassell titled, “Why Michael Brown’s best friend’s story isn’t credible.”
“Officer Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, so Brown never had the chance to tell his side of what happened. But standing next to Brown for much of the time — and observing the fatal shots — was Brown’s best friend, Dorian Johnson. Johnson seems to have originated the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative. But Johnson’s story constantly changed and diverged from the physical evidence. It seems hard to come to any other conclusion than that Dorian Johnson’s version is simply made up.”