RUSS REPORT-On Monday night, Saint Louis County Prosecutor, Robert McCullough, told the people of St. Louis, and the nation, that the Grand Jury declined to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the Michael Brown shooting death. The grand jury decided that no probable cause existed to charge Officer Wilson.
McCullough said the jury of nine whites and three blacks began their term in May 2014 long before Michael Brown was shot and killed. Jurors heard over 70 hours of testimony from some 60 witnesses, three medical examiners and experts on blood, toxicology and firearms.
"They are the only people who have heard and examined every witness and every piece of evidence," he said. “The physical and scientific evidence examined by the grand jury, combined with the witness statements, supported and substantiated by that physical evidence, tells the accurate and tragic story of what happened.”
McCullough also remarked that jurors "poured their hearts and soul into this process."
Earlier in the day, area politicians, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay spoke to the citizens of the St. Louis area.
"Together we are all focused on making sure the necessary resources are on hand to protect lives, protect property and protect free speech," Missouri Governor Jay Nixon said.
Nixon promised that violence would not be tolerated and warned that if people became violent, threatening or began damaging property resources would be used to stop it.
It was reported that gun stores and pawnshops were directed to remove all guns and ammo from stores ahead of the verdict in anticipation of violence in Ferguson.
A week ago, Nixon declared a State of Emergency in anticipation of the indictment ordering the Missouri National Guard up for service. The Guard was to assist local law enforcement as needed to keep the peace. Nixon said the National Guard was to carry out any requests made through the Highway Patrol to "protect life and property" and support local authorities. Because of this Executive Order police were to use less confrontational tactics to manage protesters.
Protesters gathered in three “symbolic” areas of St. Louis City and St. Louis County. Before McCullough finished his hour long Press Conference, crowds in the three locations had exponentially grown to hundreds. In the City, near Shaw Park, protesters gathered at the site where 18 year-old VonDerrit Myers, Jr was shot on October 9, 2014. Police say Myers had a gun and shot at an off duty officer three times before the Officer returned fire and killed him. Myers was wearing a court ordered ankle bracelet as a condition of bail in another gun case.
Protesters marched along the Grand Avenue side of Shaw Park and onto Interstate 44, where they stood on the highway, blocking traffic for nearly an hour before being ordered back onto Grand Ave.
In Clayton, the County Government seat, protesters were relatively calm. Nothing in Clayton where McCullough delivered the Grand Jury verdict stood out as menacing or dangerous behavior.
But in Ferguson, when shots rang out, peaceful protesters began scattering and ducking for cover. Several protesters took to the streets trying to tip over a police cruiser. Another police car was set on fire and the flames lit up the sky. A few canisters of tear gas were dispersed near the Ferguson Police Dept. and the crowd thinned out even more.
As buildings were torched, one by one, bricks were hurled at fire trucks and firefighters were being shot at. Several people were actually trying to climb up onto the fire trucks. The Ferguson Police Chief said he heard over 100 gunshots throughout the night.
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles tried frantically through the night to reach the Governor to deploy the Guard to Ferguson. No one responded. The Guard was never deployed. Business owners tearfully watched as their businesses and livelihoods went up in smoke. Many have said they will not rebuild in the City of Ferguson.
Michael Brown’s stepfather who called for peace was caught on video after the grand jury rendered their verdict inciting protesters to “burn this bitch down!”
By Tuesday’s first light, nearly 24 businesses had been completely destroyed or heavily damaged. Police made over sixty arrests. All but two are from metropolitan St. Louis.
Monday night’s violence was clearly an orchestrated event. Many in St. Louis City and County worry that more violence is yet to come. Some have expressed fears that the violence will continue until the entire City of Ferguson is destroyed while others express concerns of violence in other areas of the City and County.
Dozens of businesses outside of Ferguson began boarding up storefront windows, because several windows had been broken outside of Ferguson in protests, according to St. Louis City Police Chief, Sam Dotson.
Many schools in the area will not resume classes until after the Thanksgiving weekend.
At an early morning news conference on Tuesday a perplexed St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he didn’t foresee this much violence happening. Missouri State Highway Patrolman Captain Ron Johnson echoed those sentiments.
Calls for the Governor’s resignation because he failed to protect the City of Ferguson are gaining traction.
Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder is demanding that the Governor tell the public why he told the National Guard to stand down in Ferguson. Kinder told reporters, “Explain why you gave the order that I supported a week ago to mobilize the guard, to declare a state of emergency, and then at the critical moment you’re nowhere to be found by the mayor of Ferguson who’s desperately calling me in the wee hours of this morning, desperately calling the Speaker of the Missouri House and the floor leader of the Missouri House, Tim Jones and John Diehl, and asking for somebody in state government to stand up and give him some help. All executive power and all command of the Missouri National Guard rests with the Missouri chief executive so none of us could do anything as Ferguson burned. So this mayor made this desperate call as he was watching from his back porch as his city burned.”
Kinder also felt the Prosecuting Attorney’s announcement should have come early Tuesday morning instead of 8:15 PM Monday night. Perhaps some of the violence could have been lessened.
On Tuesday afternoon, Nixon finally deployed the National Guard to Ferguson but refused to answer why the Guard was absent during Monday night’s fracas.
On Tuesday night around 9:30PM CST, once again, tensions between police and protesters are escalating. A police car was set afire. Within an hour the size of the crowd had tripled and police were forced to use tear gas as protesters threw objects at officers. Protesters could be heard loudly taunting police officers while sporadic physical altercations broke out with officers throughout the crowd. This is far from over. Protesters in the Shaw Park area have begun assembling again, while new groups of protesters were assembling in other areas of the City and County where there was no connection to any involved in the Brown case.
In addition, there promises to be more court cases as the Federal government tries to gather enough evidence for a civil rights action against both the officer and the Police Department of Ferguson.
There is anticipation that Michael Brown’s family will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Ferguson and Officer Wilson.
Dozens of protests in 170 cities throughout more than thirty states are popping up fuelled by incessant media coverage- some with thousands of protesters- to protest Michael Brown’s death.
KPIX San Francisco reported Tuesday night that dozens of protesters started a line of fire across a major freeway in Oakland they were blocking.
And with it all, we are left with the question: What were they thinking? All of them, what were they thinking?
The LA Times reported of protests throughout several cities in California to include Los Angeles.
This site, has been organizing efforts in several cities including Los Angeles on Tuesday.
(Katharine Russ is an investigative reporter. She is a regular contributor to CityWatch. Katharine Russ can be reached at [email protected]) Photo credit: McEachin/Paller picture Courtesy of Kim Paller
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CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 96
Pub: Nov 28, 2014
