Daniel Bates, Daily Mail, November 26, 2014

Close friends of Darren Wilson have called for the star witness in the Michael Brown shooting to be charged for lying about what he saw.

Two of the Ferguson police officer’s best friends told MailOnline that Dorian Johnson–who was next to Brown at the time–should be arrested for his statements in numerous TV interviews he made days afterwards.

They say that he made up the claim that Brown had his hands up which kickstarted the ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ protest movement.

For his part Johnson told the grand jury that the whole process has left him feeling ‘victimized’.

He also revealed that the altercation began because he didn’t like how Wilson spoke to him like a father telling off his son.

Johnson was walking with Brown back to his house in Ferguson, Missouri, when he and Wilson got in tussle that ended in tragedy on August 9.

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Afterwards, Wilson’s testimony was made public which his supporters say proves Johnson was a liar.

A close friend said: ‘Dorian Johnson is the one who started it all. If it was up to me he should be charged.

‘He got right on CNN, he got right on TV and started blabbering his mouth off. I could tell by his voice that he was lying.

‘Darren Wilson’s story makes sense regardless of whether I knew him or not.’

The friend also criticized Johnson for claiming that he hid behind a car but also claimed to have seen everything that happened.

The friend said: ‘That’s just not possible’.

In his TV interviews after Brown’s death on CNN and MSNBC Johnson said that Wilson told him and Brown to ‘get the f***onto the sidewalk’ as he drove past in his police SUV.

But in his interview at the St Louis County police department on August 10, the day after he killed Brown Wilson said that he asked them both: ‘Hey guys, why don’t you walk on the sidewalk?’

Johnson is said to have replied: ‘F*** what you have to say’.

In his TV interviews Johnson said that Wilson shot Brown in the back at which point he turned round with his hands up saying: ‘I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!’

Wilson however said that Brown charged at him looking like a ‘demon’ who did not stop until he hit him with the last of six bullets, which went into his head.

Johnson vanished soon after making his interviews and has only resurfaced once in a brief interview on CNN.

His credibility was further damaged after it emerged that he had previous convictions for theft and filing a false police report.

The close friend of Wilson’s told MailOnline that they feared for Wilson’s future and that he might not be able to return to a normal life.

Wilson had only celebrated his housewarming with his future wife Barbara Spradling and her five-year-old son a month before he shot Brown.

Prior to joining the police force Wilson worked as a carpenter and this is something he could go back to, or perhaps working in a smaller, more rural force.

The second friend said: ‘He’s a good person. I used to go bowling with him and he’s one of the nicest guys I know’.

The first friend added: ‘I knew from day one that Darren would not be indicted. I knew he did nothing wrong . . .

‘. . . he’s very good at putting on a brave face but I know it’s killing him.

‘I am sure that he sees it all, he sees it all happen in his mind every night before he goes to sleep’.

Should Johnson be arrested the charge he would face would be perjury, but it appears to be very unlikely.

As he announced the jury’s decision not to charge Wilson, St Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCullough was asked if there were grounds to take action against any of the witnesses.

He said no but in his speech he lambasted some of those who gave evidence, without naming Johnson directly.

He said: ‘Some witnesses maintained their original statement that Mr Brown had his hands in the air and was not moving toward the officer when he was shot.

‘Several witnesses said Mr Brown did not raise his hands at all or that he raised them briefly and then dropped them and then turned toward Officer Wilson, who then fired several rounds.’

Johnson’s testimony before the grand jury is broadly the same as what he said during his TV interviews.

It does however reveal numerous new details about the incident and the alleged robbery Brown carried out minutes before at a convenience store.

Johnson told the panel that after grabbing a handful of cigarillos and pushing the clerk out the way he ‘laughed it off’ as they walked outside without paying.

He and Brown did not get out of the road when Wilson asked him to because he felt the officer was like a ‘father talking to kids’.

Johnson agreed that what they were doing was ‘defiant, a show of strength’ and told the jury his thoughts were: ‘We’re not your kids’.

After the shooting Johnson ran back to his house to change his clothes and admitted it was so that the police did not recognise him and arrest him over the convenience store robbery.

He told the grand jury that he felt ‘victimised’ and that there were so many rumours that people thought he had been killed when a body was found nearby.

Johnson told the jury that ‘deadly force was really not necessary’ and that Brown ‘could be in jail right now’ if things had been different.

He said: ‘All I’m saying is the gun is definitely out of order. Could have been a taser, anything that make someone stop . . .

‘. . . he (Wilson) could have pulled out the billy club to show he was going to use force if we didn’t stop.’