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Darren Wilson Opens Up About Ferguson And Michael Brown In New Interview

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Casey Harper Contributor
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The police officer whose killing of an unarmed black man sparked protests, rioting and a nationwide movement while pushing him into hiding is finally speaking out.

In the first interview since fatally shooting Michael Brown, former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson talked to The New Yorker about his early introduction to crime.

Though it has already been reported in part by other outlets, Wilson explains in the interview how his first run-in with criminals was with his own mother.

“She never wanted to hurt us,” Wilson told The New Yorker. “But when it came to money she was going to get it, one way or another.”

Tonya Dean, Wilson’s mother, repeatedly stole from others and wrote hot checks. Wilson said she even stole money raised for his Boy Scout troop and pretended to be an heiress about to inherit millions.

She married a man named Tyler Harris, but Harris said her wild financial habits quickly had him $20,000 in debt.

“The family eventually moved to St. Peters, west of St. Louis. When Wilson was thirteen, he stopped trusting his mother altogether, because she stole funds that she had helped raise for his Boy Scout troop. He worried that she would steal what little money he made working summer jobs, so he opened two bank accounts. The first, which had almost no money in it, was a decoy. He put his real earnings in the second, secret account. Wilson also tried to preëmpt his mother’s stealing. Once, he warned a friend’s parents not to let her inside their house, because she would surely find a way to steal their identities and max out their credit cards.

Despite her compulsive thievery, Dean somehow avoided prison. Finally, a judge warned her that if she appeared in his court again she would be jailed. Shortly afterward, in 2002, she died unexpectedly. At the time, Wilson didn’t understand what had triggered her death, but he now thinks that it might have been suicide. (Harris suspects that she drank antifreeze.)”

The interview also covers Wilson’s time in Ferguson, including what happened the day Michael Brown died and how the Ferguson Police Department abused its use of citations.

He further talks about how the incident has forced him into hiding and made him essentially unemployable at other police departments.

For the rest of the revealing interview, check out The New Yorker.

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