New documentary suggests twist in Michael Brown case

A new documentary suggests Michael Brown did not rob a convenience store in Ferguson, Mo. before he was fatally shot in 2014 by police.

A new documentary that debuted Saturday at a film festival in Austin, Texas — citing previously unseen footage — instead reports that there was a possible drug transaction Brown had with employees at the store during an earlier visit, The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported.

The film, “Stranger Fruits,” suggests Brown first went to Ferguson Market and Liquor at about 1 a.m. and exchanged marijuana with the store clerks for boxes of cigarilllos. Before leaving the store, Brown reportedly gave the boxes of cigarillos back to the store clerk to get at a later time.

{mosads}“Mike did not rob the store,” a narrator in the film says.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, says.

Jay Kanzler, an attorney for the convenience store and its employees, said that there was “no transaction.”

“There was no understanding. No agreement,” he told The New York Times. “Those folks didn’t sell him cigarillos for pot. The reason he gave it back is he was walking out the door with unpaid merchandise and they wanted it back.”

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said it was “news” to him that Brown had visited the store earlier in the day.

In August 2014, Darren Wilson, a white police officer, fatally shot Brown, an unarmed black man. The case sparked national protests and fueled concerns over the use of force by police.