Ferguson erupts in riots, looting after charges dropped against killer cop
By Elizabeth Campbell, Toluse Olorunnipa and Andrew Harris
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — Chaos erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, after a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer for the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager.
Businesses were looted, cars burned on the street and buildings went up in flames. Crowds that had gathered near the Ferguson Police Department scattered as authorities shot canisters of gas. Windows were smashed after prosecutors said shortly after 8 p.m. local time that they wouldn't charge Officer Darren Wilson in the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The spasm of fury reignited a wrenching episode of racial violence that since August has prompted a re-examination of law enforcement's relationship with minorities across the U.S. The debate today stretched from smoke-choked South Florissant Road in Ferguson to the White House, where President Barack Obama pleaded for calm.
Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, went among the protesters after the decision was announced, crying as she repeated, "Y'all wrong, y'all wrong!"
A series of pops scattered protesters about 9 p.m. local time. A line of about 50 police in riot gear moved behind cruisers in the department's parking lot to take cover.
Armored vehicles blocked the street as the crowd surged back, rallying around a marcher waving an American flag. Some protesters showed police their hands raised in a mocking posture of surrender, while others showed their middle fingers.
Choking Clouds
Gas and smoke rose in clouds around a "Seasons Greetings" sign hanging over the street. Protesters choked and sprinted from the noxious fumes.
Obama said the nation must heed the decision of the St. Louis County grand jury and urged protesters to express their anger in non-violent ways and law enforcement officers to exercise care and restraint.
"This is not just an issue for Ferguson," Obama said at the White House minutes after the grand jury's decision was announced. "This is an issue for America."
Elsewhere in the U.S., protests were mainly peaceful. In New York, at least 1,000 people marched north from Union Square, many holding signs reading "Black Lives Matter" and "Jail Killer Cops."
"I'm actually too sad to shout along with the other protesters," said Alexis Perrotta, 40, of Manhattan. "I think that racism is alive and well."
In Washington, a crowd congregated at the White House.
"Michael Brown, Emmett Till, how many black dudes will you kill?" they chanted, a reference to the 1955 lynching of a 14- year-old in Mississippi.
'Shut It'
In Los Angeles, activists urged a boycott to Thanksgiving sales:
"What are we going to do to Wal-Mart?"
"Shut it down!"
One of the speakers in Leimert Park tried to rally the crowd by saying, "It's a vibrational system. You have to feel it."
The announcement of the jury's decision followed weeks of work. St. Louis County Chief Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch said the grand jury, composed of nine whites and three blacks, began hearing evidence Aug. 20 after days of protests.
McCulloch said the grand jury members met for 25 days and are the only people who heard every witness and examined every piece of evidence. He said many witness statements were contradicted by physical evidence.
First Attack
McCulloch said Brown, suspected in shoplifting cigars from a store looted yesterday, attacked Wilson while the officer was in his patrol car. Brown's blood was found inside Wilson's vehicle and on the gun, which was fired twice in the car, McCulloch said.
"As tragic as this is, it was not a crime," McCulloch said. "It doesn't lessen this tragedy that it was a justifiable use of force in self defense."
The Brown shooting touched off days of racially charged demonstrations that included looting in the municipality of about 21,000 people, 70 percent of whom are black. As of September, 50 of the city's 53 police officers were white.
Ferguson police deployed armored vehicles and aimed assault rifles at protesters. Protests and arrests occurred regularly in the ensuing weeks.
Second Guessing
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Brown's family, said in a posting on Twitter, that they are "profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions."
Al Sharpton, the civil-rights activist, said last night at a news conference in New York that he would join Brown's family in Missouri today, before returning to New York to lead nationwide demonstrations.
"It's very suspect to say that if you claim Michael Brown was shoplifting cigarillos, that that qualifies him as a felon," he said. "You are trying to describe a shoplifter as a fleeing felon?"
Wilson's lawyers said in a statement published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper that the officer was following his training and the law:
"We recognize that many people will want to second-guess the grand jury's decision. We would encourage anyone who wants to express an opinion do so in a respectful and peaceful manner."
Acting Independently
The federal government is examining the Ferguson police department, its training and operating procedures.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that while the grand jury proceeding has ended, the Justice Department's investigation continues.
"Though we have shared information with local prosecutors during the course of our investigation, the federal inquiry has been independent of the local one from the start, and remains so now," Holder said in an e-mailed statement. "Although federal civil rights law imposes a high legal bar in these types of cases, we have resisted forming premature conclusions." – BLOOMBERG
By Jennie MATTHEW of Agence France-Presse
President Barack Obama and the family of late 18-year-old Michael Brown separately appealed for calm after a prosecutor said a grand jury had found the policeman acted in self-defense.
St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said Officer Darren Wilson had fired 12 times after getting into an "altercation" with Brown, and that the jury had found no grounds to file charges.
As McCulloch rounded off his summary of the grand jury testimony, Brown's mother burst into tears and the crowd began to chant: "Hey, hey, ho, ho! These killer cops have got to go."
Members of an angry crowd outside the police station where Wilson had been based threw bottles and stones. A police car was set alight and stores looted.
Riot officers responded with teargas and flash grenades, and running battles broke out in the streets of the St Louis suburb.
Looters smashed their way into a mobile phone store opposite the police headquarters and ransacked it. Nearby, an AFP journalist was hurt when he was hit in the face by a hurled object.
Pam Bailey, a retiree from St Louis in her 60s, said she had expected the decision. "I've lived long enough to know that African Americans are not considered human beings," she said.
Protest marches began in several more US cities, but there were no immediate reports of unrest outside Missouri.
Outside the White House, a crowd waved signs urging the government to "Stop racist police terror."
In Washington, Obama made a rapidly-organized televised appearance to appeal for calm in the Midwestern town, echoing the sentiments of the dead teenager's family.
"Michael Brown's parents have lost more than anyone. We should be honoring their wishes," Obama said.
"I also appeal to the law enforcement officials in Ferguson and the region to show care and restraint in managing peaceful protests that may occur."
His call for calm fell on deaf ears in Ferguson, where police were pelted with bricks and bottles and responded with volleys of teargas.
"It shows that our justice system is corrupt," said a 21-year-old sales representative from Ferguson who gave his name as Josh.
"It shows that we have a long way to go and it shows today that justice hasn't been served for years and years. There's room for peaceful protests and there's room for violent protests."
McCulloch told reporters the evidence presented to the jury had shown Wilson had shot as a legitimate act of self-defense during a tussle that broke out as he was responding to a robbery.
He said the "altercation" had broken out as Wilson was sitting in his patrol car and Brown was standing at the window.
A picture taken after the incident and released by the prosecutor showed Wilson with a very slight bruise to his right cheek.
"During the altercation, two shots were fired by Officer Wilson while still inside the vehicle," McCulloch said.
– Twelve shots –
After these shots were fired, Wilson is said to have left the car to pursue Brown, who at some point turned on him. Ten shots were fired and the young man was killed, hit six times.
In August, some early witnesses had said that Brown had his hands up and was surrendering when he was killed. But McCulloch said the physical evidence and other witnesses contradicted this account.
"Decisions on a matter as serious as charging an individual with a crime simply cannot be decided on anything less than a complete critical examination of all available evidence," he said.
In a statement, the Brown family said: "We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions.
"We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful," the family added, calling for legal reform. "Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction."
The shooting of Brown, an 18-year-old who had planned to go to college, sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests and a nationwide debate about police tactics and race relations.
Plea for non-violence –
After the grand jury announcement, Attorney General Eric Holder said that a separate federal civil rights investigation into the incident and Ferguson policing in general would continue.
Ferguson's mainly African American community of 21,000 has been on edge for days, braced for further protests should the officer not be indicted.
The mostly black suburb has an overwhelmingly white police force and residents complain of years of racial prejudice and heavy handed police tactics.
In the days leading up to the decision, Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency and called up the National Guard last week in readiness. The FBI has also deployed extra personnel.
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