Midday Roundup: Autopsy suggests scuffle preceded Ferguson shooting

Autopsy analysis. An article in today’s St. Louis Post–Dispatch claims Michael Brown, the unarmed teen shot in Ferguson, Mo., in August, may have gone for officer Darren Wilson’s gun during an altercation. After looking at the official autopsy report, experts told the newspaper a wound on Brown’s thumb indicates it was near Wilson’s gun when he fired. Material in the wound was consistent with a shot fired at very close range. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco, also told the paper Brown’s other wounds were consistent with someone who was lunging at the shooter, not someone who was in a position of surrender, as Brown’s supporters claimed. In his account of the events, Wilson said Brown reached into the police vehicle and punched him in the face before running. But during the foot chase, Wilson claimed Brown turned and charged him. A grand jury is considering whether to indict Wilson in Brown’s death.

No quid pro quo. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said today the United States did not make a deal with North Korea to secure the release of one of three Americans detained in the communist country. “There was no quid pro quo and we are very concerned about the remaining American citizens who are in North Korea and we have great hopes that North Korea will see the benefits of releasing them also as soon as possible," Kerry said. Jeffrey Fowle was accused of leaving a Bible in a bar. He had not been sentenced. Christian Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller are both serving sentences in the country’s labor camps. Kerry said U.S. officials would be willing to continue talks with North Korea if its leaders agree to move toward denuclearization. The North Korean news agency said leader Kim Jong-Un orchestrated Fowle’s release after taking into account “repeated requests” from U.S. President Barack Obama.

Sub search. The Swedish navy is searching the waters near Stockholm for a submarine suspected to belong to Russia. According to local media reports, Sweden intercepted distress signals, in Russian, last week. At about the same time, area residents began reporting sightings of a strange vessel off the coast. But six days of searching have turned up nothing so far. If one of the navy’s ships does discover the sub, Swedish Rear Adm. Anders Grenstad said its captain would not hesitate to use weapons to bring the vessel to the surface. Russia has denied having a submarine in the area. But it does have several bases nearby. And sightings of Soviet subs caused security fears in Sweden in the 1980s.

Illegal mission. A new report on the Secret Service lambasts the agency for using assets assigned to protect the president to interfere in an agency employee’s dispute with her neighbor. The incident happened three years ago, and most of the people involved have retired or taken other jobs. But it illustrates a dysfunctional culture that led to other major lapses in judgment, including a prostitution scandal and breaches in White House security. The report claims two agents normally assigned to assess threats to the president around Washington spent five days checking on Lisa Chopey, an assistant to the Secret Service director. Chopey had several run-ins with a neighbor, who eventually was arrested by local police. The report “found no legal justification for using Secret Service agents for such a purpose.”