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
How about your young people respecting authority and stop attacking the police and rioting, or is asking for civilized behavior too much?
antealien says:
“You know, they start arming our police like military….THEY ARE GONNA USE THE EQUIPMENT. Stop giving all this high tech military $#%&!@* to our cops and they wont be playing army games with the people.”
From: http://www.truthandaction.org/highway-patrol-take-control-police-operations-ferguson-live-feeds/comment-page-2/#comment-427884
You know, they start arming our police like military….THEY ARE GONNA USE THE EQUIPMENT. Stop giving all this high tech military $#%&!@* to our cops and they wont be playing army games with the people.
joe biggs from infowars.com, was standing with the bro’s , they have been siding with them all day and when you least expect it, the bro’s jumped his ass and the cops he was condemning just moments before had to go save his ass. TODAY INFOWARS LOST THEIR CREDIBILITY AND I HAVE BEEN A FOLLOWER FOR 21 YEARS.
they are totally in the wrong calling a riot a protest and an 18 yr old gang banger with his ass hanging out a child.
This will be everywhere throughout the country soon enough. Part of that New World Order everyone has been talking about that many ignore. Are you prepared?
As if f*g Nixon knows anything about what Missouri is about…
This is the reason and Right of the militia.
Shane, “Respect to the people” really? After one got shot while assaulting an officer more turn into a destructive, looting, burning mob that was shooting and throwing Molotov $#%&!@*tails at police showing it’s collective displeasure by endangering thousands and destroying the property of people that were in no way connected to the shooting and all this happens even before there could possibly be time to conduct an investigation into the original shooting. Which part of all that do you think deserves the respect exactly? Being angry doesn’t necessarily make anyone right. It certainly never justifies any lawlessness. Now the state police are in the streets, there are fewer places to shop, fewer jobs, there will be less commerce and investment in that community. You can bet this last few days cost the city/county a fortune of course the people pay for that. The people also have to pay for all the repairs to city/county property that was damaged. Ultimately they have to pay for the state police too. Oh yeah, they’re doing a “great job” for the community during a national economic crisis. Just exactly what everyone needed…
The police actions were exactly what obama wants local law enforcement to do…to stir up more riffs than what starts a riff…to get people mad at each other, hopefully race against race, rioting, etc. Even if there isn’t all that…any crowd that any local law enforcement perceives as a possible threat…may end up in the same boat as the Ferguson community…police turning on innocent peoples! Wake up people…the persons you should be mad at is obama himself and his cronies that let him write and executive order giving these powers to local law enforcement departments….he usurped his power as president to do so…he has overstepped, sidestepped and understepped the constitution in every way possible and has committed MANY treasonous acts in his presidency. This Ferguson, MO stuff is all part of his agenda!