I think what has been so awful about the Michael Brown case is this:

The officer may very well have been justified. *Eyewitness reports aside for the moment.
The way this thing has been handled just reeks.
No official report of incident.
The piecemeal info.
The conflicting accounts by Ferguson police.
The timing of the release of the “robbery” video.
The heavy initial military style show of force.

All of this spurs distrust of everything. It is FUBAR.

*If the eyewitness accounts are indeed accurate, there is no justification whatsoever.