News Digest

Ferguson tensions flare after police chief tries to join protesters

Cast as an olive branch by some, the Ferguson police chief’s attempt to march with protesters demanding charges in the killing of an unarmed, black 18-year-old by a white officer still erupted into a clash that activists Friday blamed on police missteps. The trouble Thursday night came hours after Police Chief Tom Jackson released a videotaped apology to Michael Brown’s family that drew skepticism from residents and protesters who still crave answers about Brown’s death. A county grand jury is weighing whether to indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting, and the Justice Department is investigating whether Brown’s civil rights were violated. The Justice Department, which is also conducting a broader investigation of the police department, on Friday urged Jackson to ban his officers from wearing bracelets supporting Wilson while on duty and from covering up their name plates with black tape. Ferguson residents complained about the bracelets, which are black with “I am Darren Wilson” in white lettering, at a meeting with federal officials this week.

There is no question that police departments can and should closely regulate officers’ professional appearance and behavior… These bracelets reinforce the very ‘us versus them’ mentality that many residents of Ferguson believe exists.

Christy E. Lopez, deputy chief of the special litigation section of the Justice Department’s civil rights division

The unrest Thursday occurred two days after many in the St. Louis suburb complained police did little to douse a fire that destroyed a makeshift Brown memorial. “You have people grasping for a crumb of justice,” protester Charles Wade, 31, of Austin, Texas, said Friday near a canopy across the street from the police station where protesters have regularly gathered since shortly after Brown’s death. “There’s a circle of trauma that keeps happening.” He said Thursday night’s protesters appeared largely unmoved by Jackson’s apology, saying they “felt it was more of a PR move than sincere.” In it, Jackson acknowledged Brown’s body should have been removed from the street much sooner than the four hours it was there as police collected evidence. News also surfaced Thursday that the man hired to handle public relations for Ferguson, including the chief’s apology, was fired after officials learned he had been convicted of reckless homicide in 2006 in a shooting in Shelby County, Tennessee. Devin James told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the shooting was self-defense and he served 90 days in prison.