FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Anger spurred by the death of a black teenager at the hands of a white police officer boiled over again when protesters stormed into a Missouri convenience store — the same store that Michael Brown was accused of robbing.
Police and about 200 protesters clashed in Ferguson, Missouri, late Friday after another tense day in the St. Louis suburb, a day that included authorities identifying the officer who fatally shot Brown on Aug. 9. At the same news conference in which officer Darren Wilson was named, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson released documents alleging that Brown stole a $48.99 box of cigars from the convenience store, then strong-armed a man on his way out.
Just before midnight, some in what had been a large and rowdy but mostly well-behaved crowd broke into that same small store and began looting it, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson.
Some in the crowd began throwing rocks and other objects at police, Johnson said. One officer was hurt but details on the injury were not immediately available.
Johnson said police backed off to try and ease the tension. He believes looting may have spread to a couple of nearby stores. No arrests were made.
“We had to evaluate the security of the officers there and also the rioters,” Johnson said. “We just felt it was better to move back.”
Meanwhile, peaceful protesters yelled at the aggressors to stop what they were doing. About a dozen people eventually blocked off the front of the convenience store to help protect it.
Brown’s death had previously ignited four days of clashes with furious protesters. Tensions eased Thursday after Gov. Jay Nixon turned oversight of the protests over to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Gone were the police in riot gear and armored vehicles, replaced by the new patrol commander who personally walked through the streets with demonstrators. But Friday night marked a resurgence of the unrest that had momentarily abated.
Nixon on Thursday appointed Johnson to take over security after concerns were raised about how local police had used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters earlier in the week. Johnson said one tear gas canister was deployed Friday night after the group of rioters became unruly.
Jackson’s decision to spell out the allegations that Brown committed the robbery, and his releasing of surveillance video, angered attorneys for Brown’s family and many in the community, including U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay. Earlier Friday night, the Democratic congressman took a bullhorn and told protesters, “They have attempted to taint the investigation. They are trying to influence a jury pool by the stunt they pulled today.”
Family attorney Daryl Parks acknowledged that the man shown in the surveillance footage “appears to be” Brown. But he and others said Brown’s family was blindsided by the allegations and release of the footage. They said that even if it was Brown, the crime didn’t justify the shooting of a teen after he put up his hands in surrender to the officer, as witnesses allege.
Another family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said police “are choosing to disseminate information that is very strategic to try to help them justify the execution-style” killing, said Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder.
The surveillance video appears to show a man wearing a ball cap, shorts and white T-shirt grabbing a much shorter man by his shirt near the store’s door. A police report alleges that Brown grabbed the man who had come from behind the store counter and “forcefully pushed him back” into a display rack.
Police said they found evidence of the stolen merchandise on Brown’s body.
Brown’s family and supporters had been pushing for release of the officer’s name. Wilson is a six-year police veteran — two in neighboring Jennings and four in Ferguson — and had no previous complaints filed against him, Jackson said.
The police chief described Wilson as “a gentle, quiet man” who had been “an excellent officer.” Wilson has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said it could be weeks before the investigation of the shooting wraps up.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley on Friday asked Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster to take over the case, saying he did not believe McCulloch could be objective. Koster said Missouri law does not allow it unless McCulloch opts out. McCulloch spokesman Ed Magee said McCulloch has no plans to surrender the case.
Also Friday, the Justice Department confirmed in a statement that FBI agents had conducted several interviews with witnesses as part of a civil-rights investigation into Brown’s death. In the days ahead, the agents planned to canvass the neighborhood where the shooting happened, seeking more information, the statement said.
___
AP reporters David Lieb and Alan Scher Zagier in Ferguson, and Jim Suhr in St. Louis, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Notice that most of the crowd was peaceful and some in the crowd tried to help the police protect the convenience store.
Chief Jackson should be charged with inciting a riot. The SOB is either utterly incompetent or a throwback to the racist police chiefs of 1950s Mississippi.
chief jackson and the whole police force should be fired! not only are they highly incompetent, he then goes on national tv and makes inflammatory remarks about the victim
if that wasn’t bad enough, they allowed Wilson to leave town! whoever heard of allowing a suspected murderer leave town?
he’s angered the protesters all over again!. the police department needs a better spokes person, a spokes person who understands why the residents are angry.
The Ferguson police chief deliberately provoked a riot yesterday. He deliberately caused more tension and made things worse out of spite.
Chief Jackson didn’t want to release the name of his officer that was involved in the shooting. So when he was forced to do so by other authorities in the state, he made a deliberate decision to release information that was not pertinent to the investigation of the shooting.
His only motive was to smear the reputation of the victim to divert attention from the actions of his own officer knowing it would set off more violence…and taint the jury pool of the eventual trial. Nobody takes over His streets, especially a black state trooper.
The Ferguson police chief only succeeded in getting the store in the video targeted and it probably will never open again. Isn’t that special?
It is clear that Chief Jackson is not a professional law enforcement officer. He’s a brute who enjoys manipulating others. His primary goal as head of the Ferguson police department is to keep the black residents “in their place” not to protect and service the entire community. His police force follows his lead. He must be fired.
Let’s see if the Ferguson City Council has the guts to end this stand off by doing the right thing. As they and everyone else in the St. Louis County political structure seem afraid to stand up against this small town tyrant, the young people there feel compelled to continue their protests on the streets.
When there is injustice and youthful hormones at work, there will be confrontations. Chief Jackson knows it and obviously revels in how he can make it worse. How much longer and how much worse this can get is yet to be seen.
If only these kids could be made to see that they have to register to vote and do it in every municipal as well as national election, they would have the power they don’t have now. Jesse Jackson has told them this before, but they no longer believe their vote counts (if they even are allowed to vote with all the new voter suppression laws) anymore than the Bill of Rights in the Constitution pertains to them.
Chief Jackson has poisoned the well and he slept one happy man last night as the looting began again. This situation is a travesty for our Republic.
The City Council needs to grow some balls and get rid of this irresponsible police chief. He’s bad for business as well as public safety. I suppose money talks more than talking about civil rights? So how many more retail outlets have to be looted and developers pull out of town before they come to their senses?
If the protesters remain peaceful, eventually they win. I wish there was somebody of the stature of MLK or Mandela in this situation, but there isn’t. The best we have is Al Sharpton and he lacks the gravitas. A non-violent local leader needs to emerge.