Ferguson Riots

[Brian]

Police still haven't interviewed Brown's friend who was with him when everything went down.

[bmags]

I've never said they can't complain. They have every right to be upset. I'll all for them being upset. All i'm asking is why don't they respond similarly to other dead kids who die from unnecessary violence. It just seems like there's more of an uproar when there's a cop/non-black person involved.

 

Also, I read an AP story that the gun went off inside the police car.

 

 

 

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/guide-devel...police-shooting

 

Obviously not much is known yet about what actually happened, but if that's true, that probably supports the cops story that there was a fight first and the kid then fled. Still gotta wonder if shooting was an appropriate response though.

 

Probably not, if he was a person many states wouldn't consider that self defense due to the kid fleeing.

 

It's likely that there was some portion where the officer is trying to put brown into the car and brown escapes. Perhaps cop fell into car in that scenario and shot from there. Some people said he tried grabbing this kid while still in the car, so it's going to be hard to know unless video exists. Just a situation that quite clearly escalated to a point it should not have.

[Balta1701]

This impressive bit of photography is making the rounds.

[StrangeSox]

[Jenksismyhero]

 

Jesus. Whelp, have fun paying for that lawsuit citizens of California.

[bmags]

Good lord.

[Brian]

Reports of family and friends protesting in their own yard and police shooting tear gas at them.

 

Wtf.

[mr_genius]

Whenever someone says, I'm not doing/saying X and follows it with a BUT, they are.

 

^^^

[StrangeSox]

Reports of family and friends protesting in their own yard and police shooting tear gas at them.

 

Wtf.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/...wn_backyard.php

 

"Turn around and leave or we will deploy gas," shouted a police officer through a loudspeaker. Residents in their backyards pleaded for the men to get out of the street. After a few minutes of prodding, they did so. But the police still decided to advance.

 

See also: Peaceful Protest for Mike Brown Before Riot Police and Looting Takes Over

 

Standing in his backyard along with a few friends and family was 24-year-old Rich West. And after seeing the police deploy tear gas as they marched down the empty street, West and his friends felt like protesting.

 

"You go home! You go home!" they chanted. As the police come closer, they all put their hands up.

 

Once again, the police officer with the megaphone ordered the protesters to go home.

 

"We're in our yard!" they responded.

 

At one point West walked to his fence with his hands high up in the air.

 

"This my property! This my property!" he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face. He moved at the last second.

 

"This my s***!" West screamed irately after narrowly avoiding the gas canister. Eventually a friend grabbed him and pulled him back to calm him down.

 

"This is my backyard! This is my s***!" West continued screaming into the camera. He turned to the police: "Y'all go the f*** home!"

 

See also: Ferguson Riots: North County Business Owners (Some Armed) Survey the Damage

 

"This is our home. This is our residence," West's brother added. "Why do you think people say 'f*** the police?' Because of that s***."

 

Flora Busby, West's mother, a soft-spoken woman in her 60s, came into the backyard to see if her sons were alright.

 

"We in our backyard!" she said. "Why you gotta shoot us?"

 

Again West shouted at the police. And again they fired another gas canister into the yard -- this one nearly hitting his house.

 

"It's pure ignorance," West responded after catching his breath. "I pay property taxes here. I should be able to be in my backyard any time."

 

He said that regular harassment by the Ferguson police department, often in the form of traffic stops, has been occurring ever since he was sixteen years old.

 

"They ain't gotta be throwing tear gas in my backyard," added Busby. "This is my property. We were just standing back there, my son was standing back there, and I go to see about him and they threw it."

 

She continued: "I'm angry about that. They shouldn't be doing that. And they didn't need to kill the poor little boy. "

 

 

reports also that the Ferguson PD has been ordering media out of the area and threatening independent journalists with arrest if they don't leave

[cabiness42]

So my wife and I have been on vacation since Sunday, staying in a hotel in St. Charles, which is about 15 miles NW of Ferguson. I have to say I've watched more local news on my hotel room TV the past three nights than I thought possible. Our hotel is adjacent to a retail complex whose parking lot was used Sunday night as a staging area for St. Charles county police departments to caravan into Ferguson to provide support. If that wasn't unnerving enough, last night the same retail complex was rumored to be one of the targets, as the rioters were pushing to move on from Ferguson to "riot and loot in white areas." Out our 7th floor window we watched police and SWAT vehicles stream into the complex and not leave until almost midnight. I never saw anything on the news about anything actually happening there, but it was still quite unsettling.

[Jenksismyhero]

More people shot:

 

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-a...c9d8c688e7.html

 

UPDATED at 6:45 a.m.

 

At about 1 a.m., a St. Louis County Police officer shot and critically wounded a man who police said pointed a handgun at the officer near the intersection of West Florissant and Chambers Road.

 

The shooting happened near Chambers and Sheffingdell Court, not far from the site of protests against police over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. The location is less than a mile from the QuikTrip on West Florissant that was looted and burned Sunday night.

 

Police said they received a call reporting about four to five men in the area armed with shotguns and wearing ski masks. They also got reports of shots fired in the area. Police officers arrived and saw "multiple subjects running," said police spokesman Officer Brian Schellman.

 

An officer approached one of the men and he pulled a handgun on the officer who then fired, Schellman said.

 

Police said they recovered the handgun at the scene. The man was taken to a hospital.

 

Officers cleared the shooting scene shortly before 5 a.m. By 6:30 a.m., the streets were quiet and school buses were running.

 

UPDATED at 1:15 a.m.

 

About 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, a woman was shot in the head in the 1300 block of Highmont Drive, west of West Florissant Avenue near the QuikTrip gas station, St. Louis County Police said. It appeared to be a drive-by shooting and police said they were looking for four or five men. The woman was shot once and is expected to survive. It was unknown if the shooting was related to the protests in the area.

 

Protesters seemed to have mostly left the area but a crowd gathered at West Florissant and Chambers Road shortly after midnight, facing off with a line of police officers. Police deployed tear gas into the crowd as they advanced east.

[Jenksismyhero]

This narrative is already getting old:

 

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/america-i...ople-1620169913

[Buehrle>Wood]

Deadspin with clickbait. Shocker.

[Leonard Zelig]

So my wife and I have been on vacation since Sunday, staying in a hotel in St. Charles, which is about 15 miles NW of Ferguson. I have to say I've watched more local news on my hotel room TV the past three nights than I thought possible. Our hotel is adjacent to a retail complex whose parking lot was used Sunday night as a staging area for St. Charles county police departments to caravan into Ferguson to provide support. If that wasn't unnerving enough, last night the same retail complex was rumored to be one of the targets, as the rioters were pushing to move on from Ferguson to "riot and loot in white areas." Out our 7th floor window we watched police and SWAT vehicles stream into the complex and not leave until almost midnight. I never saw anything on the news about anything actually happening there, but it was still quite unsettling.

 

And people say that St. Louis doesn't have anything exciting!!

[caulfield12]

This narrative is already getting old:

 

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/america-i...ople-1620169913

 

 

I would say it's equally old considering it's almost 150 years since the Civil War and things like this are still happening in America...when I was teaching in Colombia, my students were constantly asking me why the U.S. government was treating all the people in New Orleans so poorly after Hurricane Katrina, and I didn't have a good response for them.

 

I suggest reading ZEITOUN by Dave Eggers and asking you after you've finished if you still feel the same way about how the government and police have acted at different times in our country's history.

 

It's not always something to be proud of...and trying to banish the media seems to be 100% CYA time.

Edited August 13, 2014 by caulfield12

[Balta1701]

I would say it's equally old considering it's almost 150 years since the Civil War and things like this are still happening in America...when I was teaching in Colombia, my students were constantly asking me why the U.S. government was treating all the people in New Orleans so poorly after Hurricane Katrina, and I didn't have a good response for them.

YOU CAN'T SAY SUCH THINGS. YOU'RE MEAN.

[EvilMonkey]

On one hand, if the media leaves the area, Al and Jessie are likely to follow. No cameras, no blowhards.

[Jenksismyhero]

I would say it's equally old considering it's almost 150 years since the Civil War and things like this are still happening in America...when I was teaching in Colombia, my students were constantly asking me why the U.S. government was treating all the people in New Orleans so poorly after Hurricane Katrina, and I didn't have a good response for them.

 

I suggest reading ZEITOUN by Dave Eggers and asking you after you've finished if you still feel the same way about how the government and police have acted at different times in our country's history.

 

It's not always something to be proud of...and trying to banish the media seems to be 100% CYA time.

 

You're absolutely right these things shouldn't happen in 2014, but that's a far cry from claiming that America isn't for black people. I mean I forgot that all black people in this country are second class citizens. There are no politicians, business leaders, actors, actresses, professional sports athletes that are respected, idolized, cheered for, etc. in this country. None whatsoever.

 

But hey, overreacting to these types of stories, making it a racial issue that white people have to feel defensive about is the best way to go about changing things. As is looting and rioting and behaving like uncivilized threats that cops use to justify their overreactions.

 

Maybe instead of "Gah! White people hate black people!" (which isn't true), the story line here should be "Gah! Police have become militarized in this country and are out of control and we need to re-think that whole thing because people keep getting shot, punched, assaulted, etc. for no justifiable reason."

[StrangeSox]

This impressive bit of photography is making the rounds.

this photo does a great job of depicting everything that's wrong with the ever-increasing militarization of the police in this country. that's not riot-response gear, that's tactical gear.

 

edit: the militarization is a related but distinct issue from the general interactions between the police and black communities around the country though

Edited August 13, 2014 by StrangeSox

[bmags]

You're absolutely right these things shouldn't happen in 2014, but that's a far cry from claiming that America isn't for black people. I mean I forgot that all black people in this country are second class citizens. There are no politicians, business leaders, actors, actresses, professional sports athletes that are respected, idolized, cheered for, etc. in this country. None whatsoever.

 

But hey, overreacting to these types of stories, making it a racial issue that white people have to feel defensive about is the best way to go about changing things. As is looting and rioting and behaving like uncivilized threats that cops use to justify their overreactions.

 

Maybe instead of "Gah! White people hate black people!" (which isn't true), the story line here should be "Gah! Police have become militarized in this country and are out of control and we need to re-think that whole thing because people keep getting shot, punched, assaulted, etc. for no justifiable reason."

 

That's great, doesn't really help the fact that police may have executed a black teen, which has become all too common.

 

Maybe white people shouldn't feel defensive and instead listen to why they are so angry instead of telling them they can't be angry until some standard is met.

 

Try to imagine if the tools that are supposed to keep society running were instead harassing and threatening and even killing your community. Look how pissed people get at bureaucracy in here, which is justified, now imagine the IRS killing your neighbors. Probably would be more vocal.

[Jenksismyhero]

That's great, doesn't really help the fact that police may have executed a black teen, which has become all too common.

 

Maybe white people shouldn't feel defensive and instead listen to why they are so angry instead of telling them they can't be angry until some standard is met.

 

Try to imagine if the tools that are supposed to keep society running were instead harassing and threatening and even killing your community. Look how pissed people get at bureaucracy in here, which is justified, now imagine the IRS killing your neighbors. Probably would be more vocal.

 

That's twice you've accused me of that, and i'm not sure where you're getting it from. My whole point is channel your anger in the appropriate place and in the appropriate way.

 

 

[Brian]

http://www.businessinsider.com/police-mili...ferguson-2014-8

 

If cops weren't around tonight in riot and war gear, would there be looting and vandalism tonight?

[EvilMonkey]

That's great, doesn't really help the fact that police may have executed a black teen, which has become all too common.

Really? Just how common are they? Daily happenings? Weekly? Several times a year?

[bmags]

Really? Just how common are they? Daily happenings? Weekly? Several times a year?

 

I'd say police murdering innocent civilians several times a year is too common. How often does that happen in other comparable countries?

[cabiness42]

That's great, doesn't really help the fact that police may have executed a black teen, which has become all too common.

 

Maybe white people shouldn't feel defensive and instead listen to why they are so angry instead of telling them they can't be angry until some standard is met.

 

Try to imagine if the tools that are supposed to keep society running were instead harassing and threatening and even killing your community. Look how pissed people get at bureaucracy in here, which is justified, now imagine the IRS killing your neighbors. Probably would be more vocal.

 

Black people have a right to feel however they feel about this incident and their situation in general, but responding to an event where a black person was unfairly profiled as a criminal by committing a bunch of crimes is 100% counterproductive in every way.