Last weekend, a caller named "Josie" called into Dana Loesch's radio show claiming she knew the real story of Michael Brown's shooting because Darren Wilson had told her. The story spread like wildfire through The Blaze, Breitbart.com, Drudge, and more. Then it shot right into mainstream media with CNN jumping on it too.
Just to make sure it caught fire, Loesch appeared on Fox News to defend Josie's account of the killing.
The story was exactly what you would expect it to be. Michael Brown was the aggressor; Wilson was the victim. Brown rushed Wilson and he had no choice but to shoot. And so on.
As it turns out, that story was lifted from a fake Facebook page. Little Green Footballs reports that Jill Meadows posted this on Facebook on August 15th:
Darren Wilson is innocent. He shot and killed Michael in self defense. When he tried to get out of his car they slammed the car door back closed with their bodies. Upon exiting his vehicle, he was bum rushed by Michael Brown into the front seat of his car, punched in his face a few times and then fought Michael over posession of his gun. During the struggle, his gun went off and then the 280 pound, 6'3" "child" took off with his friend. When the officer got out of his car and drew his gun and yelled freeze you're under arrest, Michael turned, taunting him, yelling from about 35 feet away, "what, you gonna shoot me?" and then abruptly charged the officer again. The officer unloaded on the huge YOUNG adult as he continued storming towards him until finally, he was able to stop him by shooting him in the head right when he was almost to him and his weapon. Imagine the adrenaline pumping after almost being shot in his police car and then this same large guy is sprinting at you. He thought that Michael must have been on something the way he just kept coming despite being shot many times. Hopefully, toxicology will confirm this suspicion. These are the facts-but if nothing else I beg that you at least consider these as the other side of the story. I've heard several witnesses that must keep quiet in case they are needed in court have confirmed this story and had the SAME version of events. All other "witnesses" stories have all been inconsistent with one another, some claiming he was down on his knees, others that he was running away. The truth above is the only consistent story there has been because of course, there can be only one version of the truth. I believe in my heart for it to be factually true because I know someone very well who was there. Please spread the truth. I am begging you to at least put this out as a possibility since we have ONLY heard the other's side. It explains all of the questions and it's what I was told on Sunday morning, before everyone was silenced. Please pray for the officer who was only doing his job and trying to stay alive. Please consider releasing this as a possibility...just a theory. I'm telling you, eventually it will come out but for now, people are scared to speak out.
On August 15, Josie goes on Loesch's show.
On August 17, this post goes up on a Facebook page purported to be Darren Wilson's, as posted by Breitbart:
my friends and family have been afraid to put out what really happened due to the severe threats.but here is the truth of what happened. as much as i can tell you at this point.
they were walking in the middle of the street. i pulled my vehicle up, rolled my window down and told them to get out of the street. they refused an yelled back cussing - saying they were already almost where they are going.
i pulled further up and over. i was watching them and at that point i got the call in that there was a strong arm robbery. the description they gave was the same as the two and they had something in their hand that looked like it could be the cigars.
i backed my car up and tried to get out of my car, but they slammed my door shut to prevent me from getting out. i started to get out again and stood up, but michael came and started to shove me back in to the car. he started punching me in the face and at that point i grabbed for my gun
michael grabbed for the gun. he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. the gun goes off after it is shoved. michael took off and got to be about 35 ft away
my first protocol is to pursue, so i yell "freeze" , michael and his friend turn around. michael taunts and yells saying "what are you gonna do about it" stuff like that. And next he started bumrushing me. he just started coming at me at full speed so i started shooting. he kept coming. i definitely think the toxicology report will show that he was not right and under the influence of something
this is my account of what happened (at least, what I can openly share at this point). much of what you will hear on Tv and radio is very inaccurate. i will be deactivating my page shortly so please copy this to share the truth. i appreciate your support - especially from my police family
On August 19, Loesch goes on Hannity to promote the story and the interview, as seen in the video at the top.
So was Loesch punked or was she part of the punking? Only she knows for sure.
CNN has confirmed that the Facebook posting is not from Darren Wilson.
I could have told them that, because his social media trail was scrubbed while they withheld his name. In fact, his entire internet presence was scrubbed.
I saw the fake posting on Twitter last week and ignored it. Right wing propaganda rolls around social media all the time as the disinformation machine grinds it out to distract and distort. When Loesch took "Josie's" call, I still ignored it as hearsay.
Unfortunately, many didn't. It really doesn't matter if we know it's a hoax now, because wingers spent a week leaving comments on blogs like this one over and over about it along with the also-fake story about Wilson's "blown-out eye socket".
This is a textbook example of how the propaganda spinners work. Put out the story, let it catch fire, make sure you've got lots of acolytes to spread it around on social media and in blog comments, and BOOM! It's something like fact, even though it's fake.
How many times does this happen before Loesch and her allies are considered untrustworthy and unreliable?
