Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced today that he is relieving St. Louis County law enforcement from policing the ongoing protests in the town of Ferguson, Missouri, placing the Highway Patrol in charge instead.
“We’ve all been deeply troubled by this crisis,” Nixon said, adding that the current crisis unfolding in the state “is not what Missouri is about.” He stated that Ferguson looks “like a war zone” lately, and added, “We need to rebuilt the trust that’s been lost” in the wake of Brown’s death and the use of police force on demonstrators.
The highly militarized police used rubber bullets, pepper spray, tear gas and sonic weapons even on peaceful protesters. They also went so far as to rough up and arrested 2 reporters, shoot another with rubber bullets, gas yet other press and confiscate cameras.
Nixon added that the Highway Patrol’s involvement will not affect the responsibility of those involved in conducting investigations into the killing of Brown and the protests that have taken place since his death. He confirmed that the Department of Justice is conducting a parallel investigation.
Nixon also touched on the controversy surrounding police refusal to identify the officer involved in Brown’s death. In response to a question at the press conference, Nixon said the official’s name should be released as “expeditiously as possible.”
Previously, Rep Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) told Bloomberg News on Thursday morning that Gov. Jay Nixon, also a Democrat, had confirmed to him that county police will be pulled from their duties in Ferguson.
On Wednesday evening, protests in Ferguson for the fourth straight day appeared to resemble a war zone when militarized police began firing tear gas and non-lethal ammunition into the streets towards private residences. Two journalists, one from Washington Post and another from Huffington Post, were briefly detained while on assignment.
“The gov. just called me and he’s on his way to St. Louis now to announce he’s taking St. Louis County police out of the situation,” Rep. Clay told Derek Wallbank, a reporter for Bloomberg, early Thursday.
Earlier that afternoon, US President Barack Obama said during a press conference that he has spoken with Gov. Nixon and Attorney General Eric Holder, and had instructed federal officials to do everything they could to investigate Brown’s death and keep the situation in Ferguson calm. According to NewsChannel 5, the Justice Department will also be spending special prosecutors to Ferguson to assist in the investigation.
Source: rt.com
Photo: AFP Photo / Getty Images / Scott Olson
From what I’ve seen, someone had to get control. It’s a no win situation for everyone. I feel for both sides and I bet I would get some feed back on that but oh well, that’s how I feel
Kerm .NO one works
This isn’t going to stop the looters and murders trying to shoot at law enforcement
remove jay nixon he has vetoed and apposed what the ppl of missouri want for to long
Before crucifying the police lets be well informed about what they were facing.. we all saw the looting and civil disobedience.. we all know that outsiders are inciting the public… Maybe the state police can stabilize so the truth can come out.. If the local police need punishing they’ll be punished by the courts… not by the media.. not by social media…
The Gov. of Missouri is going to build up a lot of trust with military armored assault vehicles, military clothing, equipment and machine guns mounted on armored vehicles. No one is going to trust a “military build up” like this!
Sad ,
Good
It is about damned time. They should put a curfew on that town, and arrest anyone who comes out!
What the F is wrong with you Americans? Policing your own people that you swore to “Protect and Serve,” yet over arm yourself to the teeth with every FN modern weapon