Some Anarchists I know are getting fidgety. It was just announced on the news that the FBI/DHS have a simulated terrorist attack training exercise at a local mall this weekend. Even some non-anarchists I know are getting nervous.
“When I see a young lady cry because of fear of this uniform, that’s a problem,” he said. “We’ve got to solve that.”
You're right, he does seem to be a good guy. At the very least he's a great fit for this problem. I'm not even going to post anything bad, but then again I've never had a problem with Missouri Hi Po.
Brad
Edit: Entire article for the people that can't click.
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FERGUSON, Mo. — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) gave control of security operations in riot-riven Ferguson to Missouri State Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald S. Johnson on Thursday.
The result? Hugs, kisses and a night of peace replaced tear gas and unrest.
“We are going to have a different approach and have the approach that we’re in this together,” Johnson, a Ferguson native, told reporters Thursday afternoon. “I understand the anger and fear that the citizens of Ferguson are feeling, and our officers will respect both of those.”
One immediate change under Johnson’s command: The heavy riot armor, the SWAT trucks with sniper posts, the hostile glares were gone.
Thursday night, protesters in Ferguson had a new leader: Johnson, who walked with demonstrators.
Highway Patrol Capt. Ronald Johnson with protesters Thursday in Ferguson, Mo. The governor appointed Johnson after receiving numerous complaints about the excessive show and use of force by the police against protesters and the news media covering the demonstrations. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) “I’m not afraid to be in this crowd,” declared Johnson, a towering African American man who wiped sweat from his brow as he pointed out neighborhood hangouts and restaurants he used to frequent.
“I grew up here, and this is currently my community and home,” he’d said earlier in the day.
Johnson, who heads the highway patrol’s troop in the region, hugged and kissed community members as they passed, slapping backs and sharing laughs.
Not only did Johnson march with the protesters, but he vowed to not blockade the street and to ensure that residents’ rights to assemble and protest were not infringed upon. Officers working crowd control, he said, were told they must take off their gas masks.
“When I see a young lady cry because of fear of this uniform, that’s a problem,” he said. “We’ve got to solve that.”
Johnson is a 27-year veteran of the highway patrol and currently oversees Troop C, which covers 11 counties including St. Louis.
“I’ve worked with him for many years, even before I was chief,” St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “You couldn’t have a better partner for the region. He’s smart, he’s professional, he comes from the area.”
Dotson told the newspaper that Johnson’s father-in-law, Charles McCrary, had been a deputy chief for the St. Louis Police Department.
Johnson earned a degree in criminal justice from Florissant Valley Community College, according to reports, and joined the highway patrol in 1987, according to the newspaper. The Post-Dispatch reported that Johnson was promoted to corporal in 1995 and sergeant in 1997. In 2002, officials made him captain of Troop C; Johnson was 39 at the time.
In 2007, Missouri’s then-governor, Matt Blunt (R), appointed Johnson to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.
As of 2010, Johnson lived near Ferguson, in Florissant, Mo., according to court filings. The court records also indicate that Johnson has two children in their 20s and that his wife worked at the time as a self-employed consultant.
[This message has been edited by Fats (edited 08-15-2014).]
Saint Louis Police Chief Dotson btw, sent only 4 officers to Ferguson (for traffic control) , was dismayed after seeing the local and county show of force and pulled even those 4 officers out after the first night of over the top theatrics by Ferguson and county militarized forces. http://www.stltoday.com/new...26-19481191726f.html
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The militarized police response to protests in Ferguson has driven a rare wedge between two forces that often work closely together – the two largest police departments in the area: the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Louis County Police.
St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said in an interview this afternoon that he does not support the county police tactics in Ferguson, and has not sent officers to help them, aside from four officers to direct traffic.
He said he made the decision earlier this week, long before the confrontation between police and protesters on Wednesday night that saw the St. Louis County respond to protests with armored vehicles, tear gas and officers toting cannons and assault rifles.
“One side, the chiefly side of me, wants to always be there to support law enforcement in the city or in the county,” Dotson said. “My personal side was concerned about the things I saw transpiring in Ferguson.”
“My gut told me what I was seeing were not tactics that I would use in the city and I would never put officers in situations that I would not do myself,” he said.
He emphasized that he was not criticizing his counterpart in the county police, Chief Jon Belmar, but said he did not agree with Belmar’s tactics.
"This is going to drive a further wedge, without question,” he said. “I have two responsibilities: to protect our community and to keep it safe and to protect my officers. After two nights of not making any progress in Ferguson I was concerned about both of them.”
This is going to get uglier.Police reports that brown was involved in a strong armed robbery 5min before being shot.The protester did not want to hear this because they will not believe anything the police have to say at this point.The trust of the police department was never there before and defiantly is not now.Its going to be a long time before this settles down.
I agree. However, presumption of innocence is a constitutional right--an unalienable right. Once the now-deceased is away from the police vehicle, with his hands in the air, with the officer in full control of his own weapon, the threat to the officer is mitigated.
One of the questionable aspects of this is a purported "eye witness" video that has been circulating around. The police have released the identity of the officer involved. The witness, if I understand the video correctly, IDs the officer as being white.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 08-15-2014).]
Thank you for the correction--I will edit my error. I took someone else's word for it, which didn't jive with what I have read in more recent news reports.
Originally posted by maryjane: Last night vs tonight so far-
You know what I see? Old guys, people with experience in life that know just because you have a hammer, not all things are nails. Yep, last night went much better.
This is going to get uglier.Police reports that brown was involved in a strong armed robbery 5min before being shot.The protester did not want to hear this because they will not believe anything the police have to say at this point.The trust of the police department was never there before and defiantly is not now.Its going to be a long time before this settles down.
They reported that he fit the description of a "Strong arm Robbery Suspect." That's a lot different than involved in. Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law....Unless you run into a cop and he shoots you.
What's strange is, while he fits the description, the clothes shown after he died don't match the video of the robbery. (According to online reports.)
Brad
Edited to add:
The Wife just showed me the video of the robbery, and the pictures of him dead. It certainly looks like him, and all the clothes match from what I'm seeing.
Brad
[This message has been edited by Fats (edited 08-15-2014).]
Because it's Missouri you can look up the Court records of about anyone on casenet https://www.courts.mo.gov/c.../cases/nameSearch.do Here's Michael Brown's record that has been posted so far. I'm not feeling up to digging right now, but for an 18 year old he was doing pretty good I'd say.
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Description: Burglary - 1st Degree { Felony B RSMo: 569.160 } Date: 11/02/2013 Code: 1401000 OCN: AJ006207 Arresting Agency: ST ANN PD
Presumed innocent of the robbery tho until proven guilty in a COURT Of LAW. Even then, his sentence would fit the crime, and robbery isn't a capital offense, even in Texas or Mo.
Presumed innocent of the robbery tho until proven guilty in a COURT Of LAW. Even then, his sentence would fit the crime, and robbery isn't a capital offense, even in Texas or Mo.
I agree. The "issue" I have right now is that if the witness isn't being truthful about the kind of person he was, and what they were doing.... What else is being lied about?
You know what I see? Old guys, people with experience in life that know just because you have a hammer, not all things are nails. Yep, last night went much better.
I hope it goes that good in nights to follow. Capt, Johnson from the MO. hwy patrol has made a big difference since taking over the street and crowd control. Instead of pointing guns and the military tactics that where being used, he walked with the demonstrators along with fellow officers.I grew up in this area and there are a lot of friends and family's that I still go to see and do construction projects for.Would hate to see everything destroyed before we have all the answers.
[This message has been edited by davylong86 (edited 08-15-2014).]
Presumed innocent of the robbery tho until proven guilty in a COURT Of LAW. Even then, his sentence would fit the crime, and robbery isn't a capital offense, even in Texas or Mo.
True, unless it is a traffic offense... But that's a topic for another thread...
The whole problem with this case is NOBODY knows ALL the facts yet. Instead, we have the mass liberal media swarming in with an agenda that they are going to do everything in their power to propagate no matter what the actual hard evidence says.
Regardless of if the deceased robbed the store or not, that's not why he was shot. The police claim that he struggled with an officer and allegedly went for that officer's weapon. If that is what truly happened, then I would have to say there is justification for the police action shooting. However, if in fact the officer did give chase to an unarmed suspect and shot such suspect while the suspect was either running away, doing nothing, or surrendering - then that would certainly change things and that would certainly not give the officer justification to use deadly force.
But the problem here is the MOB has already made up their minds as to what happened without knowing all the facts; and now that the media has piled on, I don't think the facts of the case are going to matter, especially if they don't fit the narrative that the liberal media holds.
All that having been said, I think the police could have handled the immediate aftermath of this situation differently and in better ways.
I'm so tired of the news always trying first to make it seem like in incidents like these, that the person is some book-worm 12 year old child who's an A honor roll student, works hard, struggles and succeeds despite his tough upbringing.
Then you look at a video like this one, and you realize the guy is a ****ing ogre, acting like an animal, stealing from and intimidating a store clerk. This happened earlier in the day before the altercation with the police officer. The only reason why the officer stopped the teens is because they were supposedly being shitheads by walking in the middle of the street and forcing traffic to have to walk around them.
Kind of hard to have ANY sympathy for this grown man after seeing this?
The owner of the store was so scared of retaliation that he did not want to release the video. A customer in the store was the one that called 911 and the police got a subpoena to view the tape.Now they have 5 cops in front of his store and Im sure his liquor sales are down today. The poor guy has a target on his back when the police leave im afraid
[This message has been edited by davylong86 (edited 08-15-2014).]
I'm so tired of the news always trying first to make it seem like in incidents like these, that the person is some book-worm 12 year old child who's an A honor roll student, works hard, struggles and succeeds despite his tough upbringing.
Then you look at a video like this one, and you realize the guy is a ****ing ogre, acting like an animal, stealing from and intimidating a store clerk. This happened earlier in the day before the altercation with the police officer. The only reason why the officer stopped the teens is because they were supposedly being shitheads by walking in the middle of the street and forcing traffic to have to walk around them.
Kind of hard to have ANY sympathy for this grown man after seeing this?
Also makes you wonder if ether of those other 2 kids with him and it looks like they all walked out without paying for stuff they had in their hands when they walked out. if ether of them were the witness that is saying the cop shot him when he had his hands up? Hey if they were one of his crew why wouldn't they lie about what happened when they encountered the cop.
Were ether of those other 2 identified yet?
Steve
[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 08-15-2014).]
The owner of the store was so scared of retaliation that he did not want to release the video. A customer in the store was the one that called 911 and the police got a subpoena to view the tape. Now they have 5 cops in front of his store and Im sure his liquor sales are down today. The poor guy has a target on his back when the police leave im afraid
Didn't the public burn down his store in retaliation? I don't think he has to worry about any sales for a while now.
Also makes you wonder if ether of those other 2 kids with him and it looks like they all walked out without paying for stuff they had in their hands when they walked out. if ether of them were the witness that is saying the cop shot him when he had his hands up? Hey if they were one of his crew why wouldn't they lie about what happened when they encountered the cop.
Were ether of those other 2 identified yet?
Steve
Yeah, one of them is the first witness in the shooting (the kid with the dreads).
This kind of stuff is so common in ghetto areas... stealing like this, it's common place. Liberals will often make the assumption that people are stealing because they have to... but this isn't the early 1900s anymore. This kind of thievery and shitty ghetto behavior is common anywhere in the world you have an entitlement mentality. You see it with the poor blacks in American ghettos, you see it with the Islamic ghettos in Holland and France, and you see this in the ghettos in places like England. Welfare mentality makes people feel entitled... they see things that they want and the concept of buying or earning something is simply never developed.
Presumed innocent of the robbery tho until proven guilty in a COURT Of LAW. Even then, his sentence would fit the crime, and robbery isn't a capital offense, even in Texas or Mo.
But you can kill anybody with your tv in their hands...
I would not put too much weight into that record. Michael Brown is a common name.
Personally, I don't know enough to form an opinion on the shooting. I only have a negative opinion of the looters and the poor handling of the crowds and reporters by the police.
quote
Originally posted by Fats:
Because it's Missouri you can look up the Court records of about anyone on casenet https://www.courts.mo.gov/c.../cases/nameSearch.do Here's Michael Brown's record that has been posted so far. I'm not feeling up to digging right now, but for an 18 year old he was doing pretty good I'd say. [QUOTE]Description: Burglary - 1st Degree { Felony B RSMo: 569.160 } Date: 11/02/2013 Code: 1401000 OCN: AJ006207 Arresting Agency: ST ANN PD
But you can kill anybody with your tv in their hands...
With certain restrictions. You have to "be fearful for your life". And they make a differential between daylight and dark. and a few other things......
Also makes you wonder if ether of those other 2 kids with him and it looks like they all walked out without paying for stuff they had in their hands when they walked out. if ether of them were the witness that is saying the cop shot him when he had his hands up? Hey if they were one of his crew why wouldn't they lie about what happened when they encountered the cop.
The people that don't understand the area that are with the police are trying to say it's all ridiculous because Mike Brown robbed a store beforehand.
They don't understand the area. This would have happened next week because Chris, or John, or Jamal, or Eric was wrongfully punished in public.
This is NOT just about some Black kid getting shot by a White cop. It's the entire police mentality in the area. It's racial tensions. It's a first amendment issue. It covers so many things larger than this one person's life... Trying to discredit it all because of that information is ignorant at best, willfully biased more likely.
The people that don't understand the area that are with the police are trying to say it's all ridiculous because Mike Brown robbed a store beforehand.
They don't understand the area. This would have happened next week because Chris, or John, or Jamal, or Eric was wrongfully punished in public.
This is NOT just about some Black kid getting shot by a White cop. It's the entire police mentality in the area. It's racial tensions. It's a first amendment issue. It covers so many things larger than this one person's life... Trying to discredit it all because of that information is ignorant at best, willfully biased more likely.
This is what a lot of people who live comfortably in the white suburbs just don't "get" Brennon. It doesn't touch them, they don't see it in their world therefore (in their minds) this problem simply doesn't exist.
The officer did not know or suspect these 2 were being sought for suspiscion of robbery when he stopped them. They were stopped for WWB on a city street.
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Thomas Jackson, the police chief of Ferguson, Missouri, said later that the officer did not know Brown was a suspect in the robbery when he stopped Brown. Asked why Brown and a friend were stopped, the chief said: “Because they were walking down the middle of the street blocking traffic.” Jackson later said that "at some point" during the encounter, the officer saw the cigars in Brown's hands and thought he might be a suspect.
quote
Originally posted by Fats:
They reported that he fit the description of a "Strong arm Robbery Suspect." That's a lot different than involved in. Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law....Unless you run into a cop and he shoots you.
What's strange is, while he fits the description, the clothes shown after he died don't match the video of the robbery. (According to online reports.)
Brad
Edited to add:
The Wife just showed me the video of the robbery, and the pictures of him dead. It certainly looks like him, and all the clothes match from what I'm seeing.
Brad
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 08-16-2014).]
The officer did not know or suspect these 2 were being sought for suspiscion of robbery when he stopped them. They were stopped for WWB on a city street.
But the protesters sure knew who's store to smash and grab last night after that video hit the news !
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — 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.
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.
"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."
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.
Brown's death had previously ignited four days of clashes with furious protesters. Tensions eased Thursday after Gov. Jay Nixon turned oversight of the protests over to the Missouri Highway Patrol. Gone were the police in riot gear and armored vehicles, replaced by the new patrol commander who personally walked through the streets with demonstrators. But Friday night marked a resurgence of the unrest that had momentarily abated.
Nixon on Thursday appointed Johnson to take over security after concerns were raised about how local police had used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters earlier in the week. Johnson said one tear gas canister was deployed Friday night after the group of rioters became unruly.
(AP) A protester holds up a clenched fist Friday, Aug. 15, 2014, in front of a... Full Image
Jackson's decision to spell out the allegations that Brown committed the robbery, and his releasing of surveillance video, angered attorneys for Brown's family and many in the community, including U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay. Earlier Friday night, the Democratic congressman took a bullhorn and told protesters, "They have attempted to taint the investigation. They are trying to influence a jury pool by the stunt they pulled today."
Family attorney Daryl Parks acknowledged that the man shown in the surveillance footage "appears to be" Brown. But he and others said Brown's family was blindsided by the allegations and release of the footage. They said that even if it was Brown, the crime didn't justify the shooting of a teen after he put up his hands in surrender to the officer, as witnesses allege.
Another family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said police "are choosing to disseminate information that is very strategic to try to help them justify the execution-style" killing, said Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder.
You know what I find funny about Dubs posts is that he grew up in the area and he didn't do this crap, why because he has a moral compass the points the right way. Hell at 15 I was thrown into south Worcester and had to fight my way to school every morning and didn't rob the corner convenience store ether.
As Don already mentioned, being suspected of robbery or not is irrelevant to the shooting. If Brown had broken free and was fleeing the officer, it's unlikely deadly force would be justified. You can use deadly force to stop a suspect in a capital case, IIRC. Or you can use it to stop someone if they are endangering others. But if he's just running away, unarmed and no immediate threat to anyone else I don't see how deadly force is justified. That should be decided in court. Police should have the same restrictions on using deadly force as any other person. It's not a tool to make their job easier - it's there to protect life.
Another family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said police "are choosing to disseminate information that is very strategic to try to help them justify the execution-style" killing, said Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, the teenager fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder.
Steve
I question picking an attorney that lost his last case like this.
I had a bad feeling for that guys store when the info came out that brown was a strong armed thug.I guess the military police will be headed back in for another round of violence.
You know what I find funny about Dubs posts is that he grew up in the area and he didn't do this crap, why because he has a moral compass the points the right way.
Steve
He grew up two hours away from there in a small town. He's from "that area" like I'm from that area.
Most of the punk thieving thugs are coming out of N.St.Louis. Ferguson is not a bad place to live.Like any large metro area you are going to have bad parts of town.All the thugs come crawling out at night and giving this town and city a very bad rep.If this dosnt stop soon there will be more deaths.