Yes perhaps, but from what I've heard so far make me wonder whether he was just plain inept.
How was he inept??? His story was that he was assaulted by a 6'2" 300 lb thug. What was inept about what he did?
First, he is in a patrol car on his own? How often does that happen? Where was his partner?
Partner???? What partner????
In America nowadays, police dept budgets are stretched thin & it's almost unheard of for patrol cops to have partners anymore. The days of Reed & Malloy riding around together in Adam 12 are long gone.
Second he takes on two young men, one very big, because they are walking down the middle of the road. Why do this without backup ?
What makes you think he "took them on"? He did his job. He told them to get out of the middle of the road because they were obviously too stupid to do so themselves, but they chose to disobey him & then, assault him. Besides, his scrawny little partner didn't count as a 2nd guy. Maybe 1/2 of one.
Some reports have indicated that he tried to get the big one into the patrol car but I find that very unlikely. However, something probably did happen then that may have resulted in him being assaulted. This is the key evidence/testimony that would either justify his actions or reveal his incompetence.
Anybody who would believe a cop would try to pull a suspect into the front seat of his patrol car where his shotgun & his laptop computer are mounted to the dash, not to mention giving the suspect the opportunity to get at his sidearm, is dumber than that dead thug was. What happened, according to the believable sources, is that Brown shoved Wilson's car door shut on him as he was trying to exit the vehicle, then leaned into the window & started punching Wilson in the face & tried to get control of Wilson's gun.
After seeing the video of Brown & knowing how these thugs behave, I believe that too.
Also very worrying is the report that he was permitted to leave the scene in the patrol car thus contaminating any evidence that might have been found in or on the car. Incompetence or suspicious behaviour on the part of the police? And why did the police wait four hours before removing the body from the road? What were they doing for all that time? The first thing that comes to mind is that they were getting their stories straight.
Whatever happened, trial by media and social media is a pretty unreliable way to arrive at the truth.
I never heard that he was allowed to leave in his patrol car. But if Wilson had to go to the hospital for treatment of his injuries, he had every right to. And you just answered your own question about them leaving the body lying there... to thoroughly examine the scene, make sure they collected every shred of evidence & not contaminate anything.
Sounds to me like you are looking to find a way to make this the officer's fault just like all the thug apologists over here are doing. I don't approve of everything the police do either, & I realize they overstep their authority, but this case looks to pretty obviously be a case of an officer defending himself against the attack of a large, out of control thug.