In an NBC News article published Wednesday evening, reporter Tom Winter erroneously wrote that Michael Brown was seen committing a "stick-up" in a video released by police. Ethics professor Jeremy V. Cruz provided Colorlines with a screen grab of how the article appeared on the site Wednesday evening:
Cruz brought up the error up to Winter himself Thursday afternoon on Twitter:
See @Tom_Winter of @NBCNews frame alleged #MikeBrown shoplifting as a "stick-up." http://t.co/JiIWXu80Vj pic.twitter.com/IOzORVPmjP
— Jeremy V. Cruz (@JeremyVCruz) August 22, 2014
Winter responded that he could "see why people may imply a gun was used." But the word "stick-up" doesn’t imply that a gun is used–the dictionary definition of "stick-up" indicates that it’s a robbery in which a gun a used:
NBC News has since updated the story, without explanation.
Even if Brown had used a gun in the alleged robbery that occurred before he was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, it wouldn’t matter. Wilson stopped Brown for jaywalking–not as a suspect in a crime.