MO - Grief & protests follow shooting of teen Michael Brown #18

[Lovejac]

[h=1]Why was Michael Brown's body left there for hours?[/h]
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...tml?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

At some point, Chief Jackson said he urged crime scene detectives to hurry up their work. “We’ve got to expedite,” Jackson said he told them. “They said, ‘OK, we’re expediting.’ But then we had a shooting over here, crowd’s coming in, and it’s really not secure there.”

About 2:30 p.m., Calvin Whitaker, the livery service driver, arrived to pick up Brown’s body. One end of Canfield was blocked off by police and emergency vehicles. At the other end, a crowd stood in his way. “They were screaming, ‘Let’s kill the police,’” he said. People flung water bottles at his black SUV, he said, cussed at his wife and called them murderers.A police officer told them to stay in the car. “You guys do not have vests,” he told them. “The best thing for you to do is get down.” Whitaker and his wife reclined their seats and hunkered down.

Police dogs, newly arrived, pushed the crowd back some, Jackson said. But when the dogs stepped back, the crowd surged forward, he said, even angrier than before. Jackson began to circle the perimeter with Brown’s mother.

McSpadden pleaded with the crowd, Whitaker said. “‘All I want them to do is pick up my baby,’” he remembers her saying. “‘Please respect him. Please move back.’ She would get a crowd moved back, and then another group would move up.”
The scene was so tense, commanders in charge stopped the investigation at points and directed investigators to seek cover. Detectives also were pulled away to help manage the crowd.

At 2:45 p.m., four more canine units arrived. At 3:20 p.m., tactical operations officers — the county SWAT team — began pulling in.

Finally, about 4 p.m., police officers gave the medical examiner investigator, then Whitaker and his wife, the go-ahead to take Brown’s body to the morgue.

Whitaker moved behind the barriers that had eventually been put up around the body. Police stood shoulder to shoulder alongside Whitaker’s cot and lined the path to his vehicle holding up sheets to block the public’s view.

 

[katydid23]

with emphasis only on the fact that Michael was not "facing" any criminal charges and not "facing" any murder charges at the time of his death. It makes no assertion regarding whether Michael ever faced any charges in the past, or whether he was ever invovled in the juvenile justice system. Which is fine. If there are records, they are sealed pursuant to state law and will be only be unsealed if good cause exists.

But it's all so carefully crafted to bolster their tale. Which is designed to stir up emotions and increase conflict. There just can't be any admission of truth here. In their version, there was no store robbery, no drug use (despite tox screen results), no aggression toward the officer, no aggression possible at all by this victim. He was just a harmless child innocently walking to Grandma's, executed by a racist cop for absolutely no reason while he pleaded for his life.

There are no people of good faith speaking hard truth, explaining the justice system and representative democracy to this community. Just willful incitement based on emotion. I can see so many needs the people of that community have. The outside attorneys and professional agitators have no intention of sticking around to effect any change that would actually benefit those people. They know how the system works but aren't about to share that knowledge and dampen the "enthusiasm" that brings the cameras and keeps the focus and thus ups the ante for the payday that will benefit very few.

It's just a very sad situation. I feel like, if anything, that community will end up even worse off and more divorced and alienated from the social norms most of us depend on. If only the "leaders" would teach them how to organize for change, register voters, groom candidates, teach our representative democratic system so they can participate. But then, what would the agitators agitate for? I feel like they have a vested interest in perpetuating a victim mentality because it's their bread and butter.

Agree totally.

And then there is their new plan, posted upthread, where they want to 'shut down' Ferguson businesses by picketing them, and blocking entrances I suppose. What Einstein thought of that genius idea? Hey everybody, let's run the local storeowners out of business, to prove some kind of point, and cut off our noses to spite our face.

 

[DebinGA]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-shocking-video-just-real-Michael-Brown.html

"Michael rapped about fathers who don't pay child support and do jail time. A case was brought against his own father (pictured together, above) for failure to pay child support in 2012. In 2007 Mike Brown Snr plead guilty to a drug possession felony carrying a minimum penalty of 5 years jail time."

Both MB's father and "steppartner" have felony drug records, which may make them unemployable. I don't know if his mom is employed, but if she were I'm sure it would have been trumpeted. Both parents' motives for suing/demanding this or that are suspect imo.

​

 

[TheDuchess]

At some point, Chief Jackson said he urged crime scene detectives to hurry up their work. “We’ve got to expedite,” Jackson said he told them. “They said, ‘OK, we’re expediting.’ But then we had a shooting over here, crowd’s coming in, and it’s really not secure there.”

About 2:30 p.m., Calvin Whitaker, the livery service driver, arrived to pick up Brown’s body. One end of Canfield was blocked off by police and emergency vehicles. At the other end, a crowd stood in his way. “They were screaming, ‘Let’s kill the police,’” he said. People flung water bottles at his black SUV, he said, cussed at his wife and called them murderers.A police officer told them to stay in the car. “You guys do not have vests,” he told them. “The best thing for you to do is get down.” Whitaker and his wife reclined their seats and hunkered down.

Police dogs, newly arrived, pushed the crowd back some, Jackson said. But when the dogs stepped back, the crowd surged forward, he said, even angrier than before. Jackson began to circle the perimeter with Brown’s mother.

McSpadden pleaded with the crowd, Whitaker said. “‘All I want them to do is pick up my baby,’” he remembers her saying. “‘Please respect him. Please move back.’ She would get a crowd moved back, and then another group would move up.”
The scene was so tense, commanders in charge stopped the investigation at points and directed investigators to seek cover. Detectives also were pulled away to help manage the crowd.

At 2:45 p.m., four more canine units arrived. At 3:20 p.m., tactical operations officers — the county SWAT team — began pulling in.

Finally, about 4 p.m., police officers gave the medical examiner investigator, then Whitaker and his wife, the go-ahead to take Brown’s body to the morgue.

Whitaker moved behind the barriers that had eventually been put up around the body. Police stood shoulder to shoulder alongside Whitaker’s cot and lined the path to his vehicle holding up sheets to block the public’s view.

This is incredible!! Looks like Crump's outrage has finally backfired. If he is supposed to be so savvy why did he bite the very hand that feeds him? Thus far, the press has been very supportive of the Brown camp. But he chose to call them out publicly and now the good will is over. It is apparent that the SLD has had enough and will start reporting TRUTH. Be ready Mr Crump. I think you have just awoken the Kraken!!!

 

[tlcya]

I also took the 1 question survey and read the entire article at Stltoday. I placed several snips from the article in the media thread in case the article later becomes inaccessible.

 

[TheDuchess]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-shocking-video-just-real-Michael-Brown.html

"Michael rapped about fathers who don't pay child support and do jail time. A case was brought against his own father (pictured together, above) for failure to pay child support in 2012. In 2007 Mike Brown Snr plead guilty to a drug possession felony carrying a minimum penalty of 5 years jail time."

Both MB's father and "steppartner" have felony drug records, which may make them unemployable. I don't know if his mom is employed, but if she were I'm sure it would have been trumpeted. Both parents' motives for suing/demanding this or that are suspect imo.

​

I wonder if Lesley is the one who filed the complaint. Sounds like Michael's parents are showing a "United in Grief" front. I'd love to see their "relationship" behind the scenes. I have a feeling there is no love lost there.

That said, I am feeling sad for Lesley. She obviously came from a good home and family. Yet how did she end up where she is now? She seems to have a lot of intelligence and heart (her tears are REAL) yet she is being pulled along by the likes of Crump and Shahid. I am sure they are promising her all sorts of things that will help heal her pain. They offer her comfort, sympathy, promises of revenge and have helped mobilize a movement in her son's name.

But Lesley, it is all smoke and mirrors. What did he get the Martin family? And that is what he will get you. After all of this is over, you will be left empty. The cameras Will eventually go away, the marches will end, and people will go back to their lives. I hope she can somehow realize this so that she can move past her anger and find some healing. Part of that reconciliation will have to realizing that Michael is the primary person responsible for his own death that day. Its sad and horrible, but it is truth.

 

[DebinGA]

I think the cameras, for the most part, have already gone away, and that's why Crump made his incendiary, unfactual remarks imo. Today in Ferguson: job fair at local community college, warrant amnesty event there too iirc, protest in Clayton at the justice center where grand juries normally meet. Crump and his fellow travelers are working hard to bring people out for other reasons now that the MB-the-murdered-innocent-kid fires have been quenched and may be totally extinguished once the MB full tox screen and OW's hospital records are released imo.

 

[CuriousGuy]

I'm thinking about the letter dated yesterday from Atty Crump to the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Why exactly is Atty Crump poking the Post Dispatch with such a long, sharp stick?? What is there possibly to gain for Atty Crump et al from that? The judge just denied the petition to open the juvenile records. Why not let that alone, or if anything was to be said, just make a curt statement that the Judge "rightfully denied the petition, and we agree with her decision", or something along those lines.

From where I'm sitting, Crump et al "won" that battle (at least for now), and so I don't really get why they would bring the situation up AGAIN (and so soon!) in such a provocative manner? Are they daring the Post Dispatch to appeal the decision? Because keeping the juvenile records in the front of everyone's attention is probably going to backfire somewhere. It's almost a given that something more about the records is going to be leaked. IMO. This letter, to me, reads like an "I dare you".

Is this just a pre-emptive blustering (but thinly veiled) threat, against the Post Dispatch? As in, if the records are leaked and your agency either leaks them or publishes anything about them, expect to be sued? That's the only strategy I can see here. Maybe I'm missing something.

IMO it is a threat. Crump is in our esteemed Attorney General's ear. Of this I have no doubt.

 

[Sonya610]

Police dogs, newly arrived, pushed the crowd back some, Jackson said. But when the dogs stepped back, the crowd surged forward, he said, even angrier than before. Jackson began to circle the perimeter with Brown’s mother.

Somewhat OT but I am glad they seem to have stopped using the dogs for crowd control; no it doesn't have anything to do with traumatizing the poor protestors or because of the civil rights movement.

Those dogs could be maced or worse and I didn't like seeing them confronting those potentially violent crowds (even though they were effective and the dogs probably thought it was fun at the time).

 

[Lovejac]

Just Sickened after reading that article! Chief Jackson, the one that they're calling to resign, walked the crowd side by side with MB mother, Lesley McSpadden as she begged and pleaded with the crowd to move so they could pick up her son.

“‘All I want them to do is pick up my baby,’” he remembers her saying. “‘Please respect him. Please move back.’ She would get a crowd moved back, and then another group would move up.

Shame on you, Ms. McSpadden, shame on you for ignoring the kindness and compassion that was shown to you by a white police chief, while your own race wouldn't show you or your dead son any respect. I hope y'all are happy together. You should be ashamed of yourself.

And then this:

Police stood shoulder to shoulder alongside Whitaker’s cot and lined the path to his vehicle holding up sheets to block the public’s view.

All these "white, bad, racist cops" stood side by side, holding up a sheet to respectfully block MB's dead body from public view. MB, who had just assaulted and tried to take a loaded weapon away from one of their own officers, and they still showed that kind of respect! :gaah:

 

[krimekat]

http://www.stltoday.com/business/lo...cle_b28e2e61-b9f6-5593-b439-23702053c818.html

Ferguson protesters say they weren't served at brewery

In a separate move, some protesters plan to stage a boycott of Ferguson businesses starting Saturday. Many of the protests have largely been on West Florissant, further east. But Charles Mayo said he and others planned to picket outside of businesses on South Florissant every Saturday until business owners helped pressure Ferguson Mayor James Knowles and Police Chief Thomas Jackson to step down.

“We want this side of Ferguson to participate as well,” Mayo said.

IMHO as a local that side of town does not want to participate . . .

 

[DebinGA]

The AP report of the landscaper raising his hands is everywhere now, as most newspapers subscribe to AP for their out of area stories:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-Brown-was-surrendering-when-he-was-shot.html [* source AP]

The Telegraph article/video was posted this morning and shows something I didn't know before - that someone with arms out/up ran toward the landscaper, who then mirrored the action as if agreeing that's what he saw too. But iirc didn't one or both of the landscapers also claim that MB was approaching OW at the time his arms were raised? I ask, because I found no mention of that in the many articles about the "new witness" this morning. Rather a vitally important thing to leave out imo, since several days have passed since CNN ran the video and more about what the landscaper/s saw has been reported elsewhere.

 

[Klood-N]

I wonder if StL Post Dispatch had:

1). Asked Crump for a comment about that new article thoroughly blowing the "laid in the sun uncovered for hours" lie they're using for the highway shutdowns out of the water.

2). Requested the transcripts of the hearing

3). Are appealing the records ruling

 

[Lovejac]

Not a PEEP on twitter about the job fair in Ferguson today but, of course, an excess of tweets about the white landscapers' video :facepalm:

I guess no one needs jobs in Ferguson? Even though that's what so many were complaining since the beginning of this incident.

 

[Sonya610]

http://www.stltoday.com/business/lo...cle_b28e2e61-b9f6-5593-b439-23702053c818.html

Ferguson protesters say they weren't served at brewery

If that brewery were smart and crafty marketing wise they would make a public statement saying the group that came in was loud/disruptive and then members refused to order. Also clearly stating they are a PRIVATELY OWNED business that has to be concerned about the welfare of their employees and patrons and has the right to refuse customers.

Then maybe plan a few "Support Officer Wilson" nights donating part of the proceeds to OW while quietly looking for a space in a better part of town.

They can't win by apologizing, or by staying, but they CAN win by making a statement and moving to a better area of the St. Louis Metro and becoming well known to their future clientele (which are NOT protestors).

 

[Lovejac]

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/09/12/job-resource-fair-to-be-held-in-ferguson-saturday/

The Urban League of Metro St. Louis teamed up with St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley to create the fair in record time.

“This year, with this event, we believe we’ll have 86 employment vendors and 33 resource vendors,” Curry says.

The resources will include free groceries and toiletries. Curry says there will be on-site interviews, so those looking for work should come dressed appropriately.

 

[branwynbreeze]

From article:
When the last of the six rounds hit Brown’s body, he pitched forward and landed facedown on the double yellow line in the middle of Canfield Drive, surrounded by long sidewalks, green grass and 14 multiunit apartment buildings.

In order to pitch forward MB must have been moving towards OW with some momentum. The position of body suggests that, too.

[h=1]Why was Michael Brown's body left there for hours?[/h]
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...tml?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

 

[krimekat]

If that brewery were smart and crafty marketing wise they would make a public statement saying the group that came in was loud/disruptive and then members refused to order. Also clearly stating they are a PRIVATELY OWNED business that has to be concerned about the welfare of their employees and patrons and has the right to refuse customers.

Then maybe plan a few "Support Officer Wilson" nights donating part of the proceeds to OW while quietly looking for a space in a better part of town.

They can't win by apologizing, or by staying, but they CAN win by making a statement and moving to a better area of the St. Louis Metro area and becoming well known to their future clientele (which are NOT protestors).

IMHO there's no way that brewhouse could sponsor a Support ODW rally without being burned to the ground or their patrons being assaulted when walking out to their cars -- that's why we/StL Supporters of ODW & LE rally at a cop bar in south City every Sat/Sun still selling TShirts & collecting donations

 

[branwynbreeze]

But when you are picking and choosing facts for your agenda (which seems to have little to do with MB) it doesn't matter what is reported.

This is incredible!! Looks like Crump's outrage has finally backfired. If he is supposed to be so savvy why did he bite the very hand that feeds him? Thus far, the press has been very supportive of the Brown camp. But he chose to call them out publicly and now the good will is over. It is apparent that the SLD has had enough and will start reporting TRUTH. Be ready Mr Crump. I think you have just awoken the Kraken!!!

 

[tlcya]

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/09/12/job-resource-fair-to-be-held-in-ferguson-saturday/

The Urban League of Metro St. Louis teamed up with St. Louis Community College-Florissant Valley to create the fair in record time.

“This year, with this event, we believe we’ll have 86 employment vendors and 33 resource vendors,” Curry says.

The resources will include free groceries and toiletries. Curry says there will be on-site interviews, so those looking for work should come dressed appropriately.

I hope people take advantage of this opportunity but will not be shocked if turn out is underwhelming.