Several hundred people gathered in front of the Ferguson, Mo., police station to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. Brown was killed when he struggled with Officer Darren Wilson and, as DNA evidence clearly proved, reached for the officer's gun. Three autopsies confirmed Wilson's version of events.
The "mostly peaceful" protesters (according to CNN) began to violently shake the chain-link fence.
“We did not react. We stayed here, let them shake the fence,” said Police Chief Troy Doyle. “That happened several times throughout the night up until the point that they broke the bottom portions of our fence, they destroyed property on our police department’s parking lot.”
Doyle decided to deploy team to make arrests for the destruction of property. That's when things got ugly.
Officer Travis Brown was on the arrest team and as he and fellow officers approached the group of fence-destroyers, they were attacked. One of the protesters allegedly charged him "violently," knocking him to the ground where he hit his head and suffered serious injuries.
“He is at an area hospital right now, fighting for his life,” said the chief, who was visibly emotional during the news conference.
Elijah Gantt, 28, faces five charges in Officer Travis Brown’s assault, including resisting arrest, first degree property damage and two charges of fourth degree assault, according to the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Gantt is being held on a $500,000 cash-only bond and must stay 1,500 feet away from the Ferguson Police Department, according to the prosecutor’s office. CNN has been unable to determine if Gantt has obtained legal representation.
Several other protesters are in custody, and prosecutors are working on filing additional charges against them, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell said at the news conference.
“We believe people have the right to peacefully protest, but when that line is crossed and people are harmed, property is damaged – people have to be held accountable,” said Bell.
The killing of Michael Brown in self-defense by Officer Darren Wilson was a textbook example of the narrative running away from the facts. The original "story" told by "eyewitnesses" and repeated faithfully by the media was a mish-mash of lies. Most of the "eyewitnesses" weren't even present at the scene.
The prosecutor in the case, Robert McCulloch, said, "I thought it was important to present anybody and everybody, and some that were, yes, clearly not telling the truth, no question about it."
Hence, the origin of the "Hands up, don't shoot" mantra that Black Lives Matter popularized at protests all across the county. It wasn't until the autopsy report was released the following March that the "hands up" story was debunked. Michael Brown had no bullet holes in his back.
An Associated Press review of the grand jury found numerous problems in the witness testimony, including statements that were "inconsistent, fabricated, or provably wrong". Several of the witnesses admitted changing their testimony to fit released evidence, or other witness statements.
The media was too terrified of being seen as "racist" to report the facts. That was left to "racists" on the right who were asking questions about the reported narrative even before the official investigation began to punch holes in the stories of eyewitnesses.
Michael Brown didn't deserve the martyrdom he was given. He didn't deserve to die, either. He was a dumb kid who made a fatal error in judgment during a confrontation with a police officer. He paid for his terrible judgment with his life.
The real tragedy of Ferguson was not the death of Michael Brown, although it certainly was for his family and friends. The tragedy was that Black Lives Matter, the media, and some in the black community decided to exploit the death of this stupid kid for nefarious purposes.
We're still living with the consequences.
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