Darren Wilson fund estimated over $1 million. My advice: change identity, move overseas, buy a business, live happily ever after
Support: The woman who founded the the movement to support officer Darren Wilson in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in August. She declined to be named for fear of reprisals
Ferguson cop Darren Wilson said that there would be a ‘new normal’ in his life after he shot dead Michael Brown in August but stood by his actions saying ‘he was doing his job and feared for his life’
Wilson is still employed as a Ferguson police officer although his lawyers have said they are in the early stages of talks for him to leave the force.
He has not incurred huge legal fees as his lawyers were all from the police force union and the force is likely to have covered the cost of hiding him until the grand jury verdict was announced.
Wilson’s war chest will probably be used to pay for additional security in the months and years ahead as he and wife Barbara Spradling, who has a child from a previous relationship and is pregnant with his baby, will be unable to work for some time and may have to relocate.
The supporter told MailOnline that she actually understood what it was like to lose a relative at the hands of police – as her own father was shot dead by a cop in 1995.
She said: ‘You have to be accountable and my dad had to be accountable.
‘He wasn’t a bad person, Mike Brown might not have been a bad person but he made a very bad choice that day.
‘My dad made a very bad choice back in 1995 and there are consequences to those actions, especially when you fight a police officer.’
After Wilson, who is white, shot dead unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9, there was an outpouring of support from his backers and law enforcement personnel around the world.
They sent in thousands of pictures of themselves with the caption ‘I am Darren Wilson’ and wore wristbands with his name on them.
In St Louis the supporter who started it all said that she ‘jumped’ to social media after hearing about the incident and held four rallies around the city.
During the first event in downtown St Louis she ironed a police shield onto dozens of T-shirts with the words: ‘I stand by Darren Wilson’ on them and sold them for $7.
Instead of a badge number it read 8.9.14, which is day he shot dead Brown.
Visible support: Wristbands backing the officer have also proved popular among the officer’s backers
She said: ‘My initial reaction was holy cow, was this one of those police officers who went crazy.
‘And then that same police officer told me there was a strong arm robbery, then it disappeared but I already knew about that.
‘Then some police officers that had the information, they told us what was really going on.
‘We knew a lot of this evidence really early on. That instantly made me want to stand up and be a voice because if people saw me stand up and be a voice, and they knew that I knew things, that maybe they would too.’
She explained that Wilson’s case struck a chord because her grandfather had been a St Louis County police officer and her father died at the hands of cops.
My dad attacked a police officer and my dad got shot and killed. My dad is to blame.
She said: ‘My dad when I was 17 was shot and killed by police. My dad was Caucasian so it didn’t make it past the nightly news.
‘I know that people really want somebody to blame. At 17 years old I wanted somebody to blame, I wanted to blame the police at first. Then I wanted to blame myself, then I wanted to blame other people, I wanted to blame drugs.
‘Then I realised quickly even at that young age; my dad is to blame. My dad attacked a police officer and my dad got shot and killed.
‘I’ve been there, I’ve been where the Brown family is and I know that this is not the answer and I know that if it would have been a black police officer that day and white suspect, any other combination of factors, it wouldn’t have made it past the nightly news.’
As support for Wilson grew, messages came in from around the world and many retired officers offered to let him come and stay at their place for free.
But there was a backlash and the supporter said that she received appalling online abuse.
Commenters threatened her family, said her ‘head would look good with a bullet in it’ and said they would rape her.
She had to completely change her Facebook profile and start a new one, though fortunately there have been no real-life incidents.
The supporter, who described herself as a ‘very conservative Democrat’ said she got ‘really really vulgar death threats’.
She said: ‘You name it, it was threatened.
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