Missouri state police Capt. Ronald Johnson said Friday that law enforcement did not make a single arrest at protests Thursday night in Ferguson over the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police.
“Last night was a great night, it was a great night,” Johnson said in a news conference. “There were no calls for service. We did not deploy tear gas. We did not have any road blocks. We did not make any arrests. It was a good night.”
Johnson and the state highway patrol assumed control of law enforcement operations in the St. Louis suburb after both Ferguson and St. Louis County police reacted to clashes with protesters by firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
During the news conference, Johnson said that he had not yet seen a packet Ferguson police distributed to media that included an incident report naming Michael Brown as a “primary suspect” in an alleged robbery the day he was shot by police. Johnson said he had not spoken with Ferguson police Chief Thomas Jackson about the development and clarified that his force is not involved with the investigation into Brown’s shooting.
He did express approval of the Ferguson police department’s move to identify the officer, Darren Wilson, who shot Brown.
“I think the release of the name is what was requested by the community, and they’ve gotten it,” Johnson said.
