|
Missouri
police
preparing
for
grand
jury
decision
By DAVID
A. LIEB
and JIM
SALTER
Associated
Press
FERGUSON,
Mo. -
Missouri
police
have
been
brushing
up on
constitutional
rights
and
stocking
up on
riot
gear to
prepare
for a
grand
jury's
decision
about
whether
to
charge a
white
police
officer
who
fatally
shot a
black
18-year-old
in
suburban
St.
Louis.
The
preparations
are
aimed at
avoiding
a
renewed
outbreak
of
violence
during
the
potentially
large
demonstrations
that
could
follow
an
announcement
of
whether
Ferguson
police
officer
Darren
Wilson
will
face a
criminal
trial
for the
Aug. 9
death of
Michael
Brown.
Police
and
protesters
have
repeatedly
clashed
since
the
shooting,
which
prompted
a
national
conversation
about
race and
police
tactics.
Images
of
officers
in riot
gear and
armored
vehicles
confronting
protesters
have
drawn
widespread
criticism.
Many
protesters
want
Darren
Wilson
indicted
for
murder.
Grand
jury
proceedings
are
secret,
but
legal
analysts
say
recently
leaked
information
about
Wilson's
testimony
to
investigators
may be
an
attempt
to
prepare
the
public
for the
possibility
that he
might
not be
charged.
The
decision
could be
made
public
within
the next
month.
In the
meantime,
law
officers
have
adjusted
their
tactics
for
interacting
more
peacefully
with
protesters
while
also
honing
their
procedures
for
quick,
widespread
arrests.
They
plan to
have a
large
contingent
of
officers
at the
ready,
but have
been
meeting
with
clergy,
community
leaders
and
students
in hopes
of
building
relationships
that
could
ease
tensions
on the
streets.
"I know
there's
a lot of
anxiety,
there's
a lot of
fear,
anticipation"
about
that
announcement,
said
Missouri
State
Highway
Patrol
Capt.
Ron
Johnson,
who was
put in
charge
of
security
in
Ferguson
in the
days
after
Brown
was
killed
and is
now part
of a
coordinated
command
with
local
police.
But "I
have a
lot of
hope."
Law
enforcement
officers
expect
to
receive
at least
a day's
notice
before a
grand
jury
announcement.
That
should
provide
time for
them to
execute
security
plans
but may
also
allow
demonstrators
to
prepare.
"The
moment I
learn
that
there
is, in
fact, a
non-indictment,
then
there's
going to
be an
organized
protest,"
said
Eric
Vickers,
a black
St.
Louis
attorney
and
civil
rights
activist.
Brown
was
unarmed
when
Wilson
encountered
him
walking
in the
street
with a
friend.
A
scuffle
ensued
and
Brown
was shot
multiple
times.
Witness
accounts
of what
happened
varied,
with
some
people
saying
they saw
Brown
raise
his
hands as
if in
surrender.
Wilson
told
investigators
he felt
threatened
while
fighting
with
Brown
from
inside a
police
SUV,
where an
initial
gunshot
was
fired,
according
to
information
provided
to
several
news
outlets
by
people
described
as
familiar
with the
investigation,
but
otherwise
not
identified.
After
Brown
fled the
vehicle,
Wilson
said
Brown
turned
around
in
threatening
manner,
prompting
the
officer
to fire
the
fatal
shots,
according
to those
accounts
of his
testimony.
Wilson's
description
of
events
was
leaked
recently,
as was
an
autopsy
report
that
showed
Brown
had
marijuana
in his
system
and was
shot in
the hand
at close
range.
Wilson
has
alleged
Brown
was
trying
to grab
his gun
in the
SUV.
"It
appears
that it
may be
calculated
to
soften
the blow
if there
is no
indictment,"
said
Peter
Joy, a
law
professor
at
Washington
University
in St.
Louis
who
directs
the
school's
Criminal
Justice
Clinic.
But, he
said,
"it's
conceivable
that if
the
leaks
are from
law
enforcement
that
perhaps
there
may be
an
indictment
and this
is
calculated
to
garner
public
sympathy
for
officer
Wilson."
Wilson's
attorneys
have
denied
being
the
source
of the
reports.
The
shooting
stoked
long-simmering
racial
tensions
in
Ferguson,
a
predominantly
black
community
with an
overwhelmingly
white
police
force.
Protests
have
continued
for two
months
in the
St.
Louis
area,
often
peaceful
but
sometimes
devolving
into
clashes
between
police
firing
tear gas
and
demonstrators
lobbing
rocks
and
bottles.
Law
enforcement
agencies
have
declined
to say
whether
they
will
proactively
line the
streets
with
more
officers
as the
grand
jury
announcement
is made
or
position
them in
strategic
locations
to react
as
needed.
St.
Louis
County
Police
Chief
Jon
Belmar
said
he's
learned
it works
better
to let
sergeants
and
lieutenants
retain
their
normal
place in
the
chain of
command,
instead
of
supplanting
them
with
higher-ranking
officers.
"We've
also
learned
we have
to have
a
dialogue
with our
demonstrators,
so they
know
what to
expect
from us,
and we
know
what to
expect
from
them,"
Belmar
said.
Amnesty
International
on
Thursday
released
a report
documenting
what it
described
as human
rights
abuses
by
police
during
the
protests
following
Brown's
death.
The
report
accuses
police
of
violating
citizens'
rights
by
intimidating
protesters
using
riot
gear,
aiming
high-powered
weapons
at
people,
using
tear
gas,
firing
rubber
bullets
and
flash-bangs,
and
setting
curfews.
Police
are
attempting
to
better
document
events
and
handle
widespread
arrests
more
efficiently.
To
ensure
it's at
full
strength,
the
state
Highway
Patrol
is
limiting
trooper
vacations
around
the time
of a
potential
decision,
and
local
police
may be
put on
longer
shifts.
After
the
initial
clashes
with
protesters,
the
state
Highway
Patrol
purchased
more
shields
and
equipment
for its
officers.
St.
Louis
city
police
recently
spent
$325,000
upgrading
helmets,
sticks
and
other
"civil
disobedience
equipment,"
said
Police
Chief
Sam
Dotson.
More
than 350
St.
Louis
officers
now have
been
trained
in civil
disobedience
tactics.
St.
Louis
County
police
and
state
troopers
also
have
undergone
training,
focused
largely
on
ensuring
they
understand
protesters'
constitutional
rights.
Belmar,
Johnson
and
other
law
officers
have
been
meeting
frequently
with
clergy,
students
and
community
leaders.
Pastors,
in turn,
have
been
preaching
messages
of
non-violence.
Earlier
this
week,
Democratic
state
Sen.
Jamilah
Nasheed,
of St.
Louis,
intentionally
got
arrested
for
refusing
to leave
the
street
in front
of the
Ferguson
Police
Department.
Even
that was
an act
preparation.
Nasheed
said she
wanted
to show
others
that
"you can
peacefully
protest,
but you
don't
have to
be
violent
under
the
banner
of
justice
for
Michael
Brown." |