Darren Wilson Injury Photo following an altercation with shooting victim

The shooting of unarmed teenager Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on 9 August 2014 has led not only to widespread national debate, but also to a laundry list of rumors about the incident and the events leading directly up to it. Among the claims heavily circulating are that Officer Darren Wilson, Brown's shooter, sustained serious and perhaps life-threatening injuries in the moments before he fatally shot the teenager.

Police initially stated that Brown had been shot by Wilson following a "physical confrontation," and some rumors stated that Wilson had sustained a broken facial bone during the incident. While the officer was taken to a local hospital following the shooting, no specific injuries have been confirmed by Ferguson police.

In the weeks following the shooting, tensions flared in Ferguson and elsewhere. Rhetoric intensified, and one particular rumor involving Wilson's "eye socket" was heavily repeated. On 21 August 2014, CNN reported that the specific claim was false:
 

In fact, the photo above is not of allegedly battered Officer Darren Wilson, but rather of now-deceased motocross rider Jim McNeil. McNeil, who was killed in an accident in 2011, sustained the injuries seen in the image above back in 2006.