USA Today – by Yamiche Alcindor, Greg Toppo, Gary Strauss and John Bacon
FERGUSON, Mo. — The streets were quiet but fires continued to burn Tuesday following a night of violence triggered by a grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for the August shooting death of unarmed, black teen Michael Brown.
Demonstrators taunted police, shattered windows and set fire to two St. Louis County police cars at the protest’s furious peek. Scattered, intermittent gunfire was also reported.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference early Tuesday that at least a dozen buildings were set ablaze and that he had heard at least 150 gunshots, none fired by police. A police officer was shot but not seriously hurt, Belmar said.
Police had made 29 arrests.
“I’m disappointed this evening,” Belmar said. “What I’ve seen tonight is probably worse than the worst night we had in August.”
He said protesters could not be controlled “unless we bring 10,000 policemen in here.”
Scores of police officers, armed with riot gear, dispersed a crowd of about 300 with volley after volley of tear gas, pepper spray and bean bags. But not before looters plundered a Walgreen store, Family Dollar store and an Autozone outlet. Other protesters torched a Little Casears pizza restaurant and local beauty shop — among several buildings set ablaze that were continuing to light up the sky early Tuesday morning. Two police cars were burned.
The chaos grounded flights in and out of St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport airlines until early Tuesday”to provide a safe environment for law enforcement activities, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Much of the crowd had been dispersed by about midnight. There were no other official reports of arrests or injuries.
Monday’s violence — reminiscent of the unrest that rocked this St. Louis suburb for several days following Brown’s death last summer — came despite efforts by Brown’s family, civil rights activists local and state authorities and President Obama to tamp down anger in the wake of the grand jury’s findings. “There’s never an excuse for violence,” Obama said.
Still, Ferguson resident Malik Rhasaan, a community organizer with Hands Up United, said the carnage was nothing compared with the sight of Brown’s body lying in the street for several hours following his death. “They have insurance. They can rebuild,” said Rhasaan, 42. “The life of Mike Brown can’t be rebuilt. Our patience cannot be rebuilt.
Richard Royal, a manager at a local Sonic restaurant who was told by police to close up early, said he understood the frustration and anger at the grand jury’s decision, but said the violence was unnecessary. “We could have done something better, like a boycott, that would have hit them in their pockets,” said Royal, 32.
Demonstrators reacted more peacefully in several other cities, where police were braced for raucous protests. Authorities initially reported that gatherings were mostly peaceful. But the violence was concentrated in Ferguson.
Some gathered hours before the announcement in a parking lot across the street from the Ferguson Police Department. Many stood right at the edge of the lot, almost in the street, chanting, “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”
One woman leading the group screamed through a bullhorn “Indict that cop. Police don’t like it. We want an indictment.”
Several young men in hooded sweatshirts reading “Peace Keepers” kept people from streaming into the street. A couple of people approached the police department building, but a woman asked them to protest the right way and pulled them into a prayer circle.
Immediately following the announcement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri said the decision “does not negate the fact that Michael Brown’s tragic death is part of an alarming national trend of officers using excessive force against people of color, often during routine encounters. Yet in most cases, the officers and police departments are not held accountable.”
The ACLU said that while many police officers “carry out their jobs with respect for the communities they serve, we must confront the profound disconnect and disrespect that many communities of color experience with their local law enforcement.”
Ron Hosko, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, described Wilson as “a victim of a polticized agenda that deemed him guilty until proven innocent.”
“Although he will walk free, his life has been forever changed, as he has been exploited in a cynical effort to turn civilians against cops in fulfillment of an anti-law enforcement agenda,” said Hosko, a former FBI assistant director.
U.S. Conference of Mayors President Kevin Johnson, an African American who is mayor of Sacramento, said in a statement, “The nation’s mayors strongly believe that there should have been open-court proceedings in the case of the officer-involved shooting of Michael Brown so that the evidence could have been presented in a public forum, and a verdict could have been rendered by a jury.”
Johnson said the group hopes that prosecutor Robert McCulloch releases the full transcript and audio proceedings of the grand jury. “This will ensure that Michael Brown’s family, as well as the community and the American public will have a greater understanding of what happened on August 9.
Contributing: Kim Hjelmgaard, Brad Heath, Pete Eisler, Kevin McCoy, Kevin Johnson, Laura Petrecca, Donna Leinwand, Laura Mandaro, Ryan Carey-Mahoney, KSDK-TV, St. Louis and AP.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/25/ferguson-grand-jury-aftermath/70075506/
http://youtu.be/Adgx9wt63NY
These guys used to host house party’s up the street from my house. Drummer dj’d my wedding. Mikey is cool. The rest are total d bags!
“…looters plundered a Walgreen store, Family Dollar store and an Autozone outlet.”
I heard this referred to as “Undocumented Shoppers”.
The Grand Jury literally had the ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over their heads with this decision. The evidence moved them not to indict police officer Darren Wilson for the August shooting death of unarmed, black teen Michael Brown.
If they had decided to indict Wilson, ONLY as justification for the prevention of riots, then this would not be justice. Base on the evidence, failure of the Grand Jury to vindicate Wilson would have set a precedent, in which any “Group of Dissenters” could sway the Judicial Process System and hold a city hostage with threats of destructive riots. However, this isn’t over… Attorney General Eric Holder will again abuse his powers of office and attempt to indict Wilson through the Federal Department of Justice. (Didn’t he resign?)
If it had been a Black Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown dead, then nothing would have been said. If the young man that was shot dead had been White, then nothing would have been said — regardless as to whether the police officer was Black or White.
So, keeping everything in mind about what has transpired in Ferguson: if dissenters laid siege on Washington, D.C., the only people who would be seen on MSM video would be labeled as “racists” White Supremacists, attempting to lynch a Black President — regardless of the acts of treason committed by (sock puppet) Obama.
This may be a reason for TPTB allowing Obama to receive a third term in office? They are absolutely determined to create a Race War, at all costs. It will preoccupy the people with killing each other, while the remainder of our Republic is covertly dismantled.
“Only a fool fights in a burning house.” -Klingon Proverb
Well said, Introspect. You’re exactly right. We’d best keep our eyes and ears open and our powder dry during this evolving takeover of our nation.
I totally agree, Frank.