New York Daily News – by Jason Molinet
A St. Louis City Hall meeting exploring the creation of a civilian-run police oversight board was halted Wednesday night when a melee erupted, highlighting the still simmering tensions exposed when an unarmed black Ferguson, Mo., teen was shot dead by a white cop last August.
The crowd grew testy an hour into the public forum as police officers spoke in opposition to the bill and state Rep. Jeff Roorda, who doubles as the business manager of the city’s police union, got into a shouting match with meeting chairman Alderman Terry Kennedy, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Witnesses say the a shoving match began after Roorda — who was reportedly wearing a wristband in support of Darren Wilson, the ex-cop who shot Michael Brown — pushed a black woman in the aisle of the packed hall.
“You white supremacist motherf—–. Get the f— out of here, man,” someone can be heard shouting at Roorda in a video that captures the meeting-stopping push.
BASSEM MASRI/USTREAMState Rep. Jeff Roorda, who doubles as the business manager of the city’s police union, is seen pushing a woman in the middle of a St. Louis City Hall meeting.“I was literally just trying to leave the meeting and I got caught in whatever Roorda and Kennedy had going on in their exchange,” Cachet Currie, the woman who was pushed, told KMOV.
“Roorda just jumped out into the aisle, pushed me over, and tried to get to Kennedy. I’m like ‘wait a minute, don’t push me.’ Then he started going off on me, pushing me.”
Currie suffered a scatch on her forehead she said came from Roorda.
From @kmovnews video, the beginning of the shoving at #STL civilian review board hearing. #JeffRoorda #CachetCurrie https://t.co/elHMSMcEPa
— Staci D Kramer (@sdkstl) January 29, 2015
Before the wild melee, Roorda initially stood and called for order as activists interrupted the proceedings.
“Excuse me, first of all, you do not tell me my function,” Kennedy shouted back, the Post-Dispatch reported.
Things devolved from there. The out-of-control meeting was adjourned 15 minutes later.
Meeting on proposed civilian oversight review board out of control at City Hall. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/BrLSctHIAJ
— Robert Cohen (@kodacohen) January 29, 2015
“This isn’t easy,” Kennedy told the Post-Dispatch. “There will be disagreements. These things have simmered for a long time.”
No arrests were made.
“We spent the night hearing from anti-police radicals,” Roorda told the Post-Dispatch. “We hear from two police officers and (Kennedy) lets the place go wild.”
Look at Roorda's pose….the bracelet.
Pushing that woman was not the first fight he was looking for tonight. pic.twitter.com/fdfm3GbG67
— Jillian Hurley (@BeautyBind) January 29, 2015
Brown’s shooting and the ensuing investigations touched off months of protests and rioting in and around Ferguson.
Wilson was cleared in the shooting by a grand jury and the Justice Department.
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What good will it do? IL. pasted such a law and had a civilian board for a short time. Then they called a couple of cops what they are and told them they did wrong. The police dogs went and growled down the legislator there and then. And got a law past that the civilian oversite board can only look at what they the police decide to give them to look at. And do no investigation at all. Last we heard of any civilian oversite of the law dogs in that State.
“Witnesses say the a shoving match began after Roorda — who was reportedly wearing a wristband in support of Darren Wilson, the ex-cop who shot Michael Brown — pushed a black woman in the aisle of the packed hall.”
Falls under the heading of ‘hazard pay’ for services rendered.