Report: Darren Wilson’s Key Witness Lied, Was Nowhere Near The Shooting
A crucial witness in the grand jury on whether to indict Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson, wasn’t truthful. What we’re saying here is, she’s a big fat liar. Her story was fabricated.
With a trail of dubious postings on social media and documented lies previously told to the police, one has to wonder why they put her on the stand.
“Witness 40,” identified as 45-year-old Sandra McElroy, has a documented history of racist remarks, criminal behavior, and mental illness, Gawker reports.
However, unlike Dorian Johnson, “Witness 40” was nowhere near Canfield Drive on the Saturday afternoon Brown was shot to death.
The Smoking Gun reports:
…McElroy did not provide police with a contemporaneous account of the Brown-Wilson confrontation, which she claimed to have watched unfold in front of her as she stood on a nearby sidewalk smoking a cigarette.
Instead, McElroy (seen at left) waited four weeks after the shooting to contact cops. By the time she gave St. Louis police a statement on September 11, a general outline of Wilson’s version of the shooting had already appeared in the press. McElroy’s account of the confrontation dovetailed with Wilson’s reported recollection of the incident.
In the weeks after Brown’s shooting–but before she contacted police–McElroy used her Facebook account to comment on the case. On August 15, she “liked’ a Facebook comment reporting that Johnson had admitted that he and Brown stole cigars before the confrontation with Wilson. On August 17, a Facebook commenter wrote that Johnson and others should be arrested for inciting riots and giving false statements to police in connection with their claims that Brown had his hands up when shot by Wilson. “The report and autopsy are in so YES they were false,” McElroy wrote of the “hands-up” claims. This appears to be an odd comment from someone who claims to have been present during the shooting. In response to the posting of a news report about a rally in support of Wilson, McElroy wrote on August 17, “Prayers, support God Bless Officer Wilson.”
She commented on a September 12 story which reported that Ferguson city officials had yet to meet with Brown’s family, “But haven’t you heard the news, There great great great grandpa may or may not have been owned by one of our great great great grandpas 200 yrs ago.”
On September 13th, she posted a graphic on a pro-Wilson Facebook page which included Brown laying dead in the street.
The words typed over the image read, “Michael Brown already received justice. So please, stop asking for it.”
McElroy provided the federal investigators with an account that neatly tracked with Wilson’s version of the fatal confrontation. She claimed to have seen Brown and Johnson walking in the street before Wilson encountered them while seated in his patrol car. She said that the duo shoved the cruiser’s door closed as Wilson sought to exit the vehicle, then watched as Brown leaned into the car and began raining punches on the cop. McElroy claimed that she heard gunfire from inside the car, which prompted Brown and Johnson to speed off. As Brown ran, McElroy said, he pulled up his sagging pants, from which “his rear end was hanging out.”
But instead of continuing to flee, Brown stopped and turned around to face Wilson, McElroy said. The unarmed teenager, she recalled, gave Wilson a “What are you going to do about it look,” and then “bent down in a football position…and began to charge at the officer.” Brown, she added, “looked like he was on something.” As Brown rushed Wilson, McElroy said, the cop began firing. The “grunting” teenager, McElroy recalled, was hit with a volley of shots, the last of which drove Brown “face first” into the roadway.
“I know what I seen,” she told investigators who were skeptical of her allegations. “I know you don’t believe me.”
When asked what she was doing in Ferguson–which is about 30 miles north of her home–McElroy explained that she was planning to “pop in” on a former high school classmate she had not seen in 26 years. Saddled with an incorrect address and no cell phone, McElroy claimed that she pulled over to smoke a cigarette and seek directions from a black man standing under a tree. In short order, the violent confrontation between Brown and Wilson purportedly played out in front of McElroy.
Despite an abundance of red flags, state prosecutors put McElroy in front of the Ferguson grand jury the day after her meeting with the federal officials. After the 12-member panel listened to a tape of her interview conducted at the FBI office, McElroy appeared and, under oath, regaled the jurors with her eyewitness claims.
According to her grand jury testimony, she was diagnosed as bipolar when she was 16, but she has not taken her meds for for about 25 years.
She’s a piece of work.
McElroy’s YouTube page is also filled with a variety of anti-Barack Obama videos, including a clip purporting to show Michelle Obama admitting that the president was born in Kenya. Over the past year, McElroy has subscribed to three channels devoted to mystery and real crime shows, as well as a “We Are Darren Wilson” video channel.
McElroy has rarely used her Twitter account, though she did post a message in late-October in response to a news report that several Ferguson drug cases had to be dropped because Darren Wilson failed to show up for court hearings. “drug thug will be arrested again who cares,” wrote McElroy.
Her inaugural tweet came in October 2013 in reply to an Obama swipe posted by Senator Ted Cruz. “Keep fighting, I am a government employee on furlough and I say keep it shut down. NO obama care please don’t stop,” McElroy tweeted to the Texas Republican.
In her journal, McElroy wrote in the days after Michael Brown’s killing, “Well Im gonna take my random drive to Florisant. Need to understand the Black race better so I stop calling Blacks Niggers and Start calling them People.”
Its not the first time she’s lied in court.
McElroy’s devotion to the truth—lacking during her appearances before the Ferguson grand jury—was also absent in early-2007 when she fabricated a bizarre story in the wake of the rescue of Shawn Hornbeck, a St. Louis boy who had been held captive for more than four years by Michael Devlin, a resident of Kirkwood, a city just outside St. Louis.
McElroy, who also lived in Kirkwood, told KMOV-TV that she had known Devlin for 20 years. She also claimed to have gone to the police months after the child’s October 2002 disappearance to report that she had seen Devlin with Hornbeck. The police, McElroy said, checked out her tip and determined that the boy with Devlin was not Hornbeck.
In the face of McElroy’s allegations, the Kirkwood Police Department fired back at her. Cops reported that they investigated her claim and determined that “we have no record of any contact with Mrs. McElroy in regards to Shawn Hornbeck.” The police statement concluded, “We have found that this story is a complete fabrication.”
The Smoking Gun reached out to McElroy for comment several times to no avail.
Check out The Smoking Gun’s detailed report here.
H/T: LL’s Mod God @Mea_Mark with thanks.
Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Anomaly100
286 responses to Report: Darren Wilson’s Key Witness Lied, Was Nowhere Near The Shooting
« Previous 1 2 3Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
searambler December 16th, 2014 at 22:55
“With a trail of dubious postings on social media and documented lies previously told to the police, one has to wonder why they put her on the stand.”
Because she supported Wilson, and there was no cross-examination.
whatthe46 December 16th, 2014 at 23:40
ding ding ding ding to the fk’n DING!
searambler December 16th, 2014 at 23:55
“With a trail of dubious postings on social media and documented lies previously told to the police, one has to wonder why they put her on the stand.”
Because she supported Wilson, and there was no cross-examination.
whatthe46 December 17th, 2014 at 00:40
ding ding ding ding to the fk’n DING!
Jack E Raynbeau December 16th, 2014 at 23:38
Now the cheese becomes a little more binding.
Jack E Raynbeau December 17th, 2014 at 00:38
Now the cheese becomes a little more binding.
perc2100 December 17th, 2014 at 11:32
It’s disheartening that news websites did more thorough investigating/vetting of witnesses than prosecutors who are supposed to be serving the people’s best interests.
Sloppy investigating and case-handling is NOT in the people’s best interests
whatthe46 December 17th, 2014 at 11:46
agreed. by the way, i’m a grown woman and that picture is scary.
perc2100 December 17th, 2014 at 11:53
Ha; it’s a pic of Peter Jackson from Comic-Con several years ago that I “clownified.” Sorry for freaking you out
perc2100 December 17th, 2014 at 12:32
It’s disheartening that news websites did more thorough investigating/vetting of witnesses than prosecutors who are supposed to be serving the people’s best interests.
Sloppy investigating and case-handling is NOT in the people’s best interests
whatthe46 December 17th, 2014 at 12:46
agreed. by the way, i’m a grown woman and that picture is scary.
perc2100 December 17th, 2014 at 12:53
Ha; it’s a pic of Peter Jackson from Comic-Con several years ago that I “clownified.” Sorry for freaking you out
crc3 December 17th, 2014 at 12:39
She needs to be arrested then jailed for perjury. The prosecutor needs to be disbarred and jailed. The governor needs to face consequences for not appointing a new prosecutor. Of course…without question…Darren Wilson needs to face a real trial with real jurors and judge then spend at least 25 years in prison for killing MB…
burqa December 20th, 2014 at 03:29
How about those who said Brown had his hands up and was surrendering when he was shot in the back?
They get a pass?
Should we be inconsistent?
crc3 December 21st, 2014 at 00:16
Anyone who lied or hid evidence needs to be dealt with accordingly….
crc3 December 17th, 2014 at 13:39
She needs to be arrested then jailed for perjury. The prosecutor needs to be disbarred and jailed. The governor needs to face consequences for not appointing a new prosecutor. Of course…without question…Darren Wilson needs to face a real trial with real jurors and judge then spend at least 25 years in prison for killing MB…
burqa December 20th, 2014 at 04:29
How about those who said Brown had his hands up and was surrendering when he was shot in the back?
They get a pass?
Should we be inconsistent?
crc3 December 21st, 2014 at 01:16
Anyone who lied or hid evidence needs to be dealt with accordingly….
FatRat December 17th, 2014 at 13:35
(Disbar and imprison the prosecutor.)
New York State chief judge Sol Wachtler was famously quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Bonfire of the Vanities that “a grand jury would ‘indict a ham sandwich,’ if that’s what you wanted.”
burqa December 20th, 2014 at 03:35
What indictment?
In this case such an impressionable grand jury didn’t indict either a ham sandwich or the cop because of an abundance of eyewitness testimony and forensic evidence indicated one was not called for.
Nibbling around the edges and ignoring the overwhelming amount of evidence is illogical and unreasonable.
Just because we may not want all that evidence to add up as it does, and just because our emotions wish all that evidence was different, it isn’t.
FatRat December 20th, 2014 at 08:21
Yes the Grand Jury was impressionable, they trusted the prosecutor. Prosecution used a defunct law that you can shoot a fleeing person. Later on they casually mentioned they should not worry about that law that unconstitutional law. No mention of it being unconstitutional as hell, just that it didn’t “comply”.
Prosecutor admitted that witnesses were lying. (“Early on I decided that anyone who claimed to have witnessed anything would be presented to the grand jury,” said McCulloch, who convened the grand jury in August. “Clearly some were not telling the truth,” he said.)
Prosecutors job isn’t to defend the officer, is there enough information to go to trial! That is a low bar to limbo under. I stand by my statement, the prosecutor should be disbarred and imprisoned.
FatRat December 17th, 2014 at 14:35
(Disbar and imprison the prosecutor.)
New York State chief judge Sol Wachtler was famously quoted by Tom Wolfe in The Bonfire of the Vanities that “a grand jury would ‘indict a ham sandwich,’ if that’s what you wanted.”
burqa December 20th, 2014 at 04:35
What indictment?
In this case such an impressionable grand jury didn’t indict either a ham sandwich or the cop because of an abundance of eyewitness testimony and forensic evidence indicated one was not called for.
Nibbling around the edges and ignoring the overwhelming amount of evidence is illogical and unreasonable.
Just because we may not want all that evidence to add up as it does, and just because our emotions wish all that evidence was different, it isn’t.
FatRat December 20th, 2014 at 09:21
Yes the Grand Jury was impressionable, they trusted the prosecutor. Prosecution used a defunct law that you can shoot a fleeing person. Later on they casually mentioned they should not worry about that law that unconstitutional law. No mention of it being unconstitutional as hell, just that it didn’t “comply”.
Prosecutor admitted that witnesses were lying. (“Early on I decided that anyone who claimed to have witnessed anything would be presented to the grand jury,” said McCulloch, who convened the grand jury in August. “Clearly some were not telling the truth,” he said.)
Prosecutors job isn’t to defend the officer, is there enough information to go to trial! That is a low bar to limbo under. I stand by my statement, the prosecutor should be disbarred and imprisoned.
Booya Bible December 17th, 2014 at 16:28
There needs to be a civil trial. The prosecutor already threw the indictment (which should bring criminal charges his way as well) but only in a court of law will we have all evidence weighed.
Booya Bible December 17th, 2014 at 17:28
There needs to be a civil trial. The prosecutor already threw the indictment (which should bring criminal charges his way as well) but only in a court of law will we have all evidence weighed.
burqa December 20th, 2014 at 03:07
Yeah, she’s a big fat liar. She’s the one who tampered with the crime scene, real sneaky-like so no one saw her planting the blood inside the po-lice car and along the street. She managed to slip those stolen cigars in Brown’s pocket, too, without anyone noticing. She photo-shopped the store video, too. Then, without anyone noticing, she altered Brown’s corpse.
Come now.
The liars we should be angriest with are the ones who said Brown was minding his own business when a cop came up behind him and shot him in the back and kept on shooting him when his hands were up, trying to surrender. That was the big fat lie that caused people to riot and got settled in many people’s minds to where they refused to believe anything other than this was a case of a racist white cop shooting a black kid for no reason whatsoever.
Brown robbed the store, the video shows the arrogant, belligerent, entitled attitude he had that day.
That same attitude was evident in him walking down the middle of the street and in the way he dealt with the cop, after committing the robbery.
Brown continued to break the law when he attacked the cop in his car, refused to obey a lawful order to stop, and fled. He turned and charged to attack the cop again and lost his life because he acted out the attitude I described above.
We were lied to when we were told Michael Brown was shot from behind in the back.
We were lied to when we were told his hands were up in surrender.
We were lied to and the race card was played cynically to take advantage of those sensitive to that issue.
Because of those lies, division among us increased. Those lies brought about rage, rancor and hatred. Those lies intensified a situation that was already bad. A great deal of destruction took place because of those lies. Innocent people had their businesses destroyed and lives horribly affected. Jobs needed in that community disappeared. The authors of those lies need to be held accountable, first. It’s time to stop giving them a pass.
The lies of this woman did not have the results of the ones referred to, above. It doesn’t let her off the hook, but a sense of proportion is called for.
trees December 21st, 2014 at 12:12
I respect you Burqa, we have argued in the past and we have vehemently disagreed on differing topics, but I will acknowledge your ability to reason and communicate. It would seem that we agree on this matter, and I find the greater tragedy to be the aftermath of the events in Ferguson. It is disturbing to see people and groups using this confrontation between Wilson and Brown as a political tool to rile up violence and animosity. Those who fight for social justice do their cause great harm when they lose the truth in pursuit of their goals.
burqa January 7th, 2015 at 22:19
Thank you so much for your positive comments. You are too kind.
There is a temptation to always disagree with those we often disagree with and it seems to me to be better to find agreement where we can and to say so.
When we have a case of police brutality and the evidence indicates such a thing, then we should naturally oppose it. But we should not decide beforehand that every case fits into a preconceived box.
In this case, the fact that this woman lied in no way rebuts the testimony of many others and the physical forensic evidence that demonstrate that lies coming out of this were the basis for a lot of needless destruction and division among us.
Booya Bible January 5th, 2015 at 15:17
Complete non sequitur.
burqa December 20th, 2014 at 04:07
Yeah, she’s a big fat liar. She’s the one who tampered with the crime scene, real sneaky-like so no one saw her planting the blood inside the po-lice car and along the street. She managed to slip those stolen cigars in Brown’s pocket, too, without anyone noticing. She photo-shopped the store video, too. Then, without anyone noticing, she altered Brown’s corpse.
Come now.
The liars we should be angriest with are the ones who said Brown was minding his own business when a cop came up behind him and shot him in the back and kept on shooting him when his hands were up, trying to surrender. That was the big fat lie that caused people to riot and got settled in many people’s minds to where they refused to believe anything other than this was a case of a racist white cop shooting a black kid for no reason whatsoever.
Brown robbed the store, the video shows the arrogant, belligerent, entitled attitude he had that day.
That same attitude was evident in him walking down the middle of the street and in the way he dealt with the cop, after committing the robbery.
Brown continued to break the law when he attacked the cop in his car, refused to obey a lawful order to stop, and fled. He turned and charged to attack the cop again and lost his life because he acted out the attitude I described above.
We were lied to when we were told Michael Brown was shot from behind in the back.
We were lied to when we were told his hands were up in surrender.
We were lied to and the race card was played cynically to take advantage of those sensitive to that issue.
Because of those lies, division among us increased. Those lies brought about rage, rancor and hatred. Those lies intensified a situation that was already bad. A great deal of destruction took place because of those lies. Innocent people had their businesses destroyed and lives horribly affected. Jobs needed in that community disappeared. The authors of those lies need to be held accountable, first. It’s time to stop giving them a pass.
The lies of this woman did not have the results of the ones referred to, above. It doesn’t let her off the hook, but a sense of proportion is called for.
trees December 21st, 2014 at 13:12
I respect you Burqa, we have argued in the past and we have vehemently disagreed on differing topics, but I will acknowledge your ability to reason and communicate. It would seem that we agree on this matter, and I find the greater tragedy to be the aftermath of the events in Ferguson. It is disturbing to see people and groups using this confrontation between Wilson and Brown as a political tool to rile up violence and animosity. Those who fight for social justice do their cause great harm when they lose the truth in pursuit of their goals. nn
burqa January 7th, 2015 at 23:19
Thank you so much for your positive comments. You are too kind.
There is a temptation to always disagree with those we often disagree with and it seems to me to be better to find agreement where we can and to say so.
When we have a case of police brutality and the evidence indicates such a thing, then we should naturally oppose it. But we should not decide beforehand that every case fits into a preconceived box.
In this case, the fact that this woman lied in no way rebuts the testimony of many others and the physical forensic evidence that demonstrate that lies coming out of this were the basis for a lot of needless destruction and division among us.
Booya Bible January 5th, 2015 at 16:17
Complete non sequitur.
Isiah Abraham December 20th, 2014 at 19:23
I have a a couple of questions that maybe someone can help me out with so that I can understand what is going on here: Was she the only eye witness for Mr. Wilson that backed up his story? Or were there other eye witnesses who corroborated his story?
Secondly, if there were other eye witnesses, then why is she said to be the “key witness?”
Thirdly. did the forensic evidence back up or corroborate Mr. Wilson’s story?
Fourthly, was she the only eye witness who told a falsehood? Or were there others who with false claims?
Fifthly, if there were others with false claims, then why are they not mentioned as a group?
Isiah Abraham December 20th, 2014 at 20:23
I have a a couple of questions that maybe someone can help me out with so that I can understand what is going on here: Was she the only eye witness for Mr. Wilson that backed up his story? Or were there other eye witnesses who corroborated his story?
Secondly, if there were other eye witnesses, then why is she said to be the “key witness?”
Thirdly. did the forensic evidence back up or corroborate Mr. Wilson’s story?
Fourthly, was she the only eye witness who told a falsehood? Or were there others who with false claims?
Fifthly, if there were others with false claims, then why are they not mentioned as a group?