Ferguson, MO Updates

Missouri police sued for $40 million over actions in Ferguson protests

A group of people caught up in unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, after a white officer killed a black teenager, sued local officials on Thursday, alleging civil rights violations through arrests and police assaults with rubber bullets and tear gas.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, says law enforcement met a broad public outcry over the Aug. 9 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown with “militaristic displays of force and weaponry,” (and) engaged U.S. citizens “as if they were war combatants.”

The lawsuit seeks a total of $40 million on behalf of six plaintiffs, including a 17-year-old boy who was with his mother in a fast-food restaurant when they were arrested. Each of the plaintiffs was caught up in interactions with police over a period from Aug. 11 to 13, the suit allege.

Named as defendants are the city of Ferguson, St. Louis County, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Delmar, Ferguson police officer Justin Cosmo, and other unnamed police officers from Ferguson and St. Louis County.

 

I hope this lawsuit is successful.  The Police of Ferguson acted horribly and violated the Constitutional rights of the citizens of Ferguson in many ways, and they should be made to pay for it.  And as this article points out, why weren’t the cops wearing badges?  One of the plaintiffs in the case was arrested, along with her son, at McDonald’s for “failure to disperse”.  

 

The lawsuit states 38-year-old Tracey White and her 17-year-old son entered the McDonald’s at the intersection of West Florrisant and Ferguson on Wednesday, August 13, after attending an afternoon rally and march. The two were waiting for White’s husband to pick them up when a number of officers, including Cosma, stormed the restaurant “in what appeared to be army uniforms.” They ordered everyone to get out. 

White states that police began harassing her son after he came out of the bathroom. When she protested the treatment, she was thrown to the ground, handcuffed and told she was under arrest because she would not “shut up.” White attempted to hand an iPad she was holding to her son, and then he too was arrested. Both were transported to Clayton, where they were told they had been arrested for “failing to disperse.” Police released them five hours later.

This is authoritarianism run amok.  With racism sizzling all around.    Make me want to spit.  

 


 

Digital Ally says camera inquiries up five-fold after Ferguson shooting

 

Digital Ally Inc forecast full-year revenue of about $22.5 million, encouraged by a “five-fold” rise in inquiries for its wearable cameras from police departments in the aftermath of the fatal shooting in Ferguson this month.

The forecast translates into a 26.4 percent jump in revenue from $17.8 million in 2013.

The fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked demand to hold law enforcement officials accountable and in turn fueled interest in companies such as Digital Ally and Taser International Inc.

The company’s 2014 revenue forecast was first reported by USA Today on Thursday, citing Chief Executive Stanton Ross, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Digital Ally said on Thursday it had received its first camera order after the Ferguson incident from the Michigan police department.

 


 

Petition Asks GoFundMe to Return Profits from Fundraisers for Officer Darren Wilson

Color of Change, founded after Hurricane Katrina to empower black people, has launched a petition demanding that GoFundMe return the profits it has made from campaigns for Wilson. The fundraising site automatically charges 7.9 percent and 30 cents per donation in the U.S. and Canada.

“GoFundMe should return any money it has made from Darren Wilson fundraising pages, and take them down immediately,” the petition says. “Profiting off the killing of Michael Brown is not okay. Profiting off of racially-motivated donors is not okay.”

Color of Change says it has 83,000 signatures so far and is aiming for 100,000.

On the petition, Color of Change says GoFundMe will be violating its own terms of service through the “financial exploitation of a crime” if Wilson is charged in relation to Brown’s shooting.

 


 

 

National March on Ferguson Leads Protesters to Police Station

Michael Brown’s parents Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden, with activist Anthony Shahid (left).  Photo via Bryan Sutter for the  River Front Times.

 

 


 

 

Lawyer, NAACP Say Newly Released Recording Captures Audio of Michael Brown Shooting

A newly discovered snippet of video from an unnamed Canfield Green resident allegedly contains audio of the gunfire that killed eighteen-year-old Michael Brown. Much has been made already about the number of shots heard — about ten or eleven — and the pause between the volleys, though the tape has not yet been declared authentic by the FBI or the St. Louis County Police Department.

However, Adolphus Pruitt, president of the local St. Louis NAACP chapter, says he believes the audio is the real deal. He says his office has acted as a liaison between the witnesses who are afraid to come forward for fear of retribution and the FBI agents investigating the case. That’s how he met the man who made the tape as well as his lawyer, Lopa Blumenthal.

“I met at the attorney’s office, and they played it and gave us a copy of our records,” Pruitt says. “I’m convinced.”

 


Heal STL: Ferguson Nonprofit Braces for More Violence If Darren Wilson Isn’t Indicted

The nightly violent standoffs between police and protesters in Ferguson may have stopped, but the anger that fueled two weeks of unrest here — anger at police, at elected officials, at oppression — remains.

And if Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson isn’t charged with a crime for shooting and killing unarmed teen Michael Brown, anger could again swell into chaos.

“If there isn’t an indictment, we’re going to see the same thing again,” says Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman who has emerged as one of the leaders behind the movement for change and peace in Ferguson. “That’s predictable. It’s going to get bad.”

But this time, community leaders won’t be caught off-guard and “flat-footed,” as French says, by the anger. By the time the grand jury decides on Wilson’s fate five or more weeks from now, things will be different.

That’s where Heal STL comes in.

 

(don’t read the comments, they’ll make you want to break something)

 

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Ferguson, MO Updates
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