Anticipating violence in response to any grand jury verdict in the Michael Brown case, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) today declared a state of emergency effective immediately.
According to Gov. Nixon’s statement, the state of emergency means that the National Guard will be deployed and the state will have a unified command to protect life and property.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JEREMIAH W. (JAY) NIXON, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Laws of the State of Missouri, including Sections 44.010 through 44.130, RSMo, do hereby declare a State of Emergency exists in the State of Missouri.
I further direct the Missouri State Highway Patrol together with the St. Louis County Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to operate as a Unified Command to protect civil rights and ensure public safety in the City of Ferguson and the St. Louis region.
I further order that the St. Louis County Police Department shall have command and operational control over security in the City of Ferguson relating to areas of protests, acts of civil disobedience and conduct otherwise arising from such activities.
I further order that the Unified Command may exercise operational authority in such other jurisdictions it deems necessary to protect civil rights and ensure public safety and that other law enforcement agencies shall assist the Unified Command when so requested and shall cooperate with operational directives of the Unified Command.
The order automatically expires in 30 days unless the governor rescinds or extends it.
US Attorney General Eric Holder did nothing to quell the potential for violence. He connected the shooting of Michael Brown by police Officer Darren Wilson to “the struggle” for civil rights and said that that struggle “goes on.”
Brown was shot moments after robbing a convenience store, and may have attacked Officer Wilson and tried to get his gun. According to medical examiners, Brown had a substantial amount of marijuana in his system at the time of the incident in which his life ended.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member