Summary: Ferguson grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson is answered by night of mayhem, looting, and fires.
After the grand jury made their decision over the fate of police officer Darren Wilson for his killing of unarmed black teen Michael Brown – having met 25 times, having heard from 60 witnesses, having listened to 3 medical examiners, and having endured 70 hours of testimony – it was announced they did not find sufficient reason to charge the officer with a crime.
Protesters in Ferguson, Mo. took the news in stride. Some plundered a Walgreens store, a Family Dollar store, and an AutoZone outlet. Others torched a Little Caesar’s pizza restaurant, and a local beauty shop in particular was raided where weaves and wigs were stolen to protest injustice in America. Two police cruisers were torched, and over 25 buildings were burned, in order to express frustration that criminal behaviors were not being addressed by the court.
As some protesters summed up their intentions, “No justice, no peace, no racist police,” one woman with a bullhorn shouted, “Indict that cop. Police don’t like it. We want an indictment.” The indictment being key, and justice perhaps not the best means of getting there.
Ferguson resident Malik Rhasaan, a community organizer with Hands Up United, further explained the rationale, saying this sort of carnage in Ferguson – two dozen buildings burning, with firefighters unable to approach the flames because of gunfire and looting, police cruisers burned, batteries and rocks thrown at police who were called out that night to handle the riots – are nothing compared to the sight of Brown’s body lying in the street after his death. “They have insurance. They can rebuild,” he said. “The life of Mike Brown can’t be rebuilt. Our patience cannot be rebuilt.”
Some protesters preferred their protest be done in secret, and demanded the media stop reporting the events. CNN reported that their own Sara Sidner was clocked on the head with a rock.
“I’m disappointed this evening,” said St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmer, in response to all of this. “What I’ve seen tonight is probably worse than the worst night we had in August,” when the first dignified response to the teen’s death was made in Ferguson, riots of a lesser degree.
Further disappointment came from Ron Hosko, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, and former FBI assistant director, who said Wilson was “a victim of a politicized 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.”