You can’t blame this on the police being too aggressive during “peaceful” protests
(WRAL) Anger spurred by the death of a black teenager at the hands of a white police officer boiled over again when protesters stormed into a Missouri convenience store — the same store that Michael Brown was accused of robbing.
But, I guess the media (it’s an AP article) can excuse looting and lawlessness on Something Else.
Police and about 200 protesters clashed in Ferguson, Missouri, late Friday after another tense day in the St. Louis suburb, a day that included authorities identifying the officer who fatally shot Brown on Aug. 9. At the same news conference in which officer Darren Wilson was named, Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson released documents alleging that Brown stole a $48.99 box of cigars from the convenience store, then strong-armed a man on his way out.
Just before midnight, some in what had been a large and rowdy but mostly well-behaved crowd broke into that same small store and began looting it, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson.
Some in the crowd began throwing rocks and other objects at police, Johnson said. One officer was hurt but details on the injury were not immediately available.
Johnson said police backed off to try and ease the tension. He believes looting may have spread to a couple of nearby stores. No arrests were made.
So, police stood by as these people broke into stores and threw rocks? First off, the store owners should be thrilled that the police will protect their property /sarc. Second, perhaps the notion that, at least in this case, police being too aggressive with their military style toys as being the cause of previous nights of rage might be a load of mule fritters. At least a small pile.
“We had to evaluate the security of the officers there and also the rioters,” Johnson said. “We just felt it was better to move back.”
I certainly hope the police were filming the faces of the rioters for later arrest. Which, of course, would probably incite more riots.
Meanwhile, peaceful protesters yelled at the aggressors to stop what they were doing. About a dozen people eventually blocked off the front of the convenience store to help protect it.
There are plenty of pictures of people standing in front of the convenience store, supposedly stopping other looters from entering. The NY Times features one, and I just have to wonder who wears a bandana to a peaceful protest, and just happens to be at the looted store?
BTW, just in case you missed it, since so few news outlets are reporting this relevant information (via Hot Air)
(WDEF) The friend who was with Michael Brown when he was shot and killed by a police officer near St. Louis over the weekend is reportedly confirming that he and Brown had taken part in the theft of cigars from a convenience store that day.
That word comes from the attorney for Dorian Johnson, speaking to MSNBC. Police in Ferguson had earlier announced that Brown was suspected of taking cigars from the convenience store in what was described as a “strong-arm robbery.”
This doesn’t provide justification for the shooting, but it does provide context. Brown and Johnson were walking in the street. The officer stops and tells them to get out of the street. He then learns that the two are wanted in connection with the robbery. At that point, something happened. And now we have the same store being terrorized and robbed again. Why? What did the store do?
Crossed at Right Wing News.
The day of the shooting local media (I live in STL) reported that cops were called for a theft @ QT & then the shooting went down. That disapeared from local media later in the day. That is why QT was burned to the ground w/ “snitches get stitches” on the side the 1st night.
I dunno Teach. In some ways the release of the video and the stills of the store robbery seems to me to be more of a chance to smear Brown rather than to add context to the situation.
The reason I say this is that the press conference that announced that Wilson had no disciplinary actions in his folder and that someone looking like Brown committed a “strong armed robbery” was early in the morning.
Then after lunch and late in the date, the police chief came out and said Wilson was not aware of the robbery of the QT Market.
That information was known in the morning but not announced.
So why keep it hidden unless to smear Brown? (who was not a choir boy by any stretch of the imagination.)
I agree that there is no excuse for rioting and looting. The store did nothing in this other than to try and act like a law abiding business. But this also gets back to something I have been saying – instead of protecting property and people, the police decided to attack protestors and let looters do damage.
From the articles you provided, the police did not protect the business here and seemed to stand by.
That has to add to the frustration as people think that the cops are not there to protect them and their property.
Finally, take a look at this article from the Daily Beast on an incident that occurred in 2009.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/15/the-day-ferguson-cops-were-caught-in-a-bloody-lie.html
Given that the police seemed likely to use excessive force and then lie about it, one must now wonder if Wilson’s record accurately gave an image of a cop who never had problems, or who just never had problems that were recorded in his file.
guitar,
I a guy has you penned and is beating the hell out of you, what force are you going to use? Myself, if I have a gun, the guy is dead.
david,
And if that is all that is going on, in most states (including Florida) you would be convicted of a crime.
Now how a Zimmerman case hypothetical relates to what happened here is beyond me.
[…] in Ferguson, MO went on the rampage again last night, well, at least the ones who weren’t “mostly peaceful.” Oddly enough, […]
Oh, I’m not going to disagree with you, GC, it was a very, let’s say, odd way to release the info, and apparently, the state police were not informed about the releases.
Guitar,
The cop was beaten. Reports from CNN say he the thug attempted to strangle him in his car and then started pounding his face. As to stand your ground, the law is here in Louisiana and most Southern states.
david,
We don’t know what happened to the cop because the police have not released his statement. So what we have is “dueling witnesses.”
Brown had a history of not being an angelic figure and the police in the town also have that reputation.
That means to me that we have a long way to go to figured out how Brown ended up dead on the street. We don’t have that same distance when it comes to the reaction of the police. While the rioting and looting cannot be excused, neither can the assaults by the police on citizens who were peaceably exercising their first amendment rights. The actions of the police to not help citizens protect their property cannot be defended or understood.
There were and are a lot of black faces and white faces calling for calm and trying to support citizens in Ferguson. Too many people are going to try and paint this as a racial incident but as I said, there are a lot of people from across a lot of different races and political leanings doing the right thing and we need to support and acknowledge them.
One group would be these guys: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/12/armed-shop-owners-fend-off-looters-st-louis-suburb/
If you go to the article, take notice of the race of the men in the photo. God bless ’em all.
As to the “stand your ground law,” as you related the hypothetical, that is not a case of “stand your ground.” It may be a case of “self defense,” depending on who initiated the fight, but it is not a case of “stand your ground.”
(And in case you forgot, the Zimmerman case was not a “stand your ground” case either.)