'Bring it on!': Filmmaker who uncovered new Michael Brown footage slams critics in heated interview
CNN
Documentary filmmaker Jason Pollock vehemently defended the new footage he surfaced about Michael Brown's death during an interview with CNN host Brooke Baldwin Monday afternoon.
Pollock, whose documentary, "Strange Fruit," premiered at the South by Southwest Festival on Saturday, claims the new security tape featured in the film points to a cover-up of evidence on the part of Ferguson police, and a false narrative painted about Brown by city officials.
At around 1 a.m. the night before he was shot, "you can clearly see Michael Brown walking into the store, you see him then make an exchange. He trades a little bag of weed for two boxes of cigarillos," Pollock said when Baldwin asked him to tell the audience what the video showed.
"We see a trade take place," he continued. "The security tape in question then shows Michael Brown handing the cigarillos back to store employees for what Pollock says is safekeeping until he returns the next day. Towards the end of the video, it appears that Brown goes back to the store the following morning. Pollock has implied that Brown went back to pick up his cigarillos.
"Don't tell me that he stole from the store if they handed him a bag [of cigarillos] that they created themselves ... anybody who sees this with their eyes can see what's happening," Pollock said.
Critics of the unearthed footage, however, have fired back at Pollock and accused him of doctoring the video.
"I can now confirm that the uncut video shows the clerks throwing [the bag of marijuana] back to Mike Brown. The filmmaker edited it out," said a statement by Jay Kanzler, who represents the store and its employees.
Pollock brushed the criticism aside. "There isn't another video," he said when Baldwin read Kanzler's statement. "Bring it on! Bring it on, Jay. Bring it on!"
He also lambasted police department officials for what he called an attempt to cover up all the evidence.
"[St. Louis County Chief of Police] Jon Belmar gave a statement that he didn't know about [the new footage]," Pollock said. "Well, Chief Belmar, it's in your report. So either you don't read your report, or somebody's lying."
He added: "So the real question now is: who knew about this video, when did they know about it, who did they talk to, who covered it up, who wrote the wrong report, and how high up the chain does this go?"
Pollock also leveled criticism at the press when Baldwin asked how he first got his hands on the footage.
"Brooke, I got my hands on this tape because I decided ... to do real investigative journalism, because I was tired of watching how the news was reporting this issue," Pollock said, before laying into the media for its handling of Donald Trump's candidacy and eventual victory in the 2016 election.
"And we wonder how Donald Trump got elected - a man who lies 60 to 70% of the time. The media could have done its job," Pollock said, before Baldwin cut him off.
Watch the full segment on CNN below:
Prosecutor calls filmmaker "pathetic" over new Michael Brown video. @jasonpollack & Brown's dad say "bring it on!" https://t.co/qcOlWB09Mr
- Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) March 13, 2017
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