Criminal law, Society

Looting Breaks Out In Ferguson After Grand Jury Refuses Charges Against Wilson

Screen Shot 2014-11-25 at 7.45.44 AMScreen Shot 2014-11-25 at 7.45.10 AMYesterday, I ran a column discussing the curious sight of rioters and looters demanding “justice” when what they are really describing is mob justice in Ferguson, Missouri. I noted that the evidence did not support the initial claims of the shooting of Michael Brown and that demonstrations are not substitutes for demonstrated evidence in a criminal case. The response, however, to the declination of charges has been precisely what President Obama and the Brown family sought to avoid in their public comments. In perhaps the most symbolic incident, Ferguson Market and Liquor, the store that Michael Brown robbed before he was killed, was looted by people demanding “justice” for Brown.


A security camera captured Brown strong arming the store owner after stealing from the store:

Regardless of how one views the evidence of the shooting, the store owner was clearly strong armed by Brown and did nothing beyond being the victim of a reported crime. However, he now has a ransacked store and is somehow blamed for the killing.

The media filmed as people carted out stolen merchandise out of the store last night:

The discussion of the resulting looting and rioting often seemed a bit too enabling and relativistic. There is no rationale connection between ransacking stores and seeking justice, a point that President Obama made eloquently last night as did the Brown family (though reportedly with the exception of Brown’s stepfather). Indeed, some “meanings” drawn from the incident extended all the way to federalism principles.

While St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch detailed the evidence including testimony from African-American witnesses who refuted accounts of Michael Brown’s friend, Dorian Johnson, and onlookers Piaget Cranshaw and Tiffany Mitchell. He was not shot in his back and was initially shot in a struggle with Wilson in (or partially in) the police vehicle. Nevertheless, the verdict was denounced by various commentators, including MSNBC contributor Michelle Bernard who called Brown the latest “casualty” of what seems to be nationwide “war on black boys.” Bernard curiously blamed federalism and state rights for part of the problem, saying that people see this case and say “we don’t want to hear about states rights.” She also calls on the Justice Department to “get involved” and “intervene.”

However, the Justice Department has intervened and reportedly also found no basis for charges in the case under civil rights provisions. If those accounts are accurate, the declination of such charges may trigger no violence by those who define justice as not a guaranteed process but a guaranteed punishment.

333 thoughts on “Looting Breaks Out In Ferguson After Grand Jury Refuses Charges Against Wilson”

  1. ‘White on Pumpkin Crime’: Mainstream Riot Coverage from Ferguson, Missouri to Keene, New Hampshire
    Twitter users and others compare difference in images, descriptions between white rioters in Keene and black protesters in Ferguson

    http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/20/white-pumpkin-crime-mainstream-riot-coverage-ferguson-missouri-keene-new-hampshire

    Excerpt:
    “These are no angels,” Twitter user Isaiah A. Taylor said of the photograph that showed six young white men on top of an overturned car, beer cans aloft, as the crowd on the ground seemed to cheer them on.

    Over the weekend, crowds who attended the annual pumpkin festival in Keene, New Hampshire became violent as the event descended into a riot. Police responded to the scene armed with tear gas and pepper spray. Dozens were arrested and at least 26 were taken to the hospital with injuries as the chaotic night unfolded.

    However, despite the violent crowds and the riot police, major news outlets referred to the event as “rowdy,” and the rioting hordes as “revelers.”

    1. Elaine – I have got to admit, as a person of the white persuasion, given enough alcohol, I could riot over pumpkins myself. Every time I see a pumpkin it makes me angry and the carved ones make me angrier. Down with pumpkins!!!! Up with summer squash!!!

  4. Did anyone read about what happened in Keene NH in October during a pumpkin festival?

    I was saddened and shocked to hear about the recent riot in Keene during its famous Pumpkin Festival. From the multiple reports that I’ve read about what happened last weekend, crowds of drunken—and predominately white—college kids went wild. Inebriated partiers smashed windows, slashed tires, tore down street signs, and overturned cars and Dumpsters. They also threw bottles, beer cans, skateboards, buckets, and pumpkins. At least thirty people sustained injuries—including lacerations and broken bones—and had to be transported to a nearby hospital. Injuries were incurred during fistfights, jumps from rooftops—and from other blunt traumas.

    http://flowersforsocrates.com/2014/10/26/smashing-pumpkins-miles-from-ferguson-mo-in-a-thug-less-land-far-far-away-drunken-white-revelers-whoop-it-up-while-trashing-a-college-town-in-new-hampshire/

    The rioters also started fires. And what were the rioters protesting? Nothing! But they were really good white kids. They weren’t violent like the protesters of color in Ferguson.

  9. @Inga

    If you don’t want to waste your time on me, that is fine. But you are also ignoring other people who have asked you the same thing. Sooo, what if you answer that same question for them, and I make a pinky promise not to read your answer??? That way you won’t look like you just don’t have a good reason for your opinion.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  10. @zedalis

    Outrage??? I am not outraged at your feeble attempt to find some equivalence between the acts of individuals, and the acts of mobs. I do feel a little embarassment for you. But, on the bright side, at least you are out there swinging at the ball! Maybe one day you will connect!

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  14. Michael Haz @ 9:27 AM, used the term “riot porn”. This was the first time I heard the term and it was very fitting.

    Some people think they know ‘things’ about other’s here. This continuous invasion of other’s privacy is beyond creepy. If their powers of ‘investigation’ reflect how they actually conducted themselves in their business, I’d say they wouldn’t get much business and would be bankrupt soon.

  15. Here are white folk behaving badly after 9/11:

    2001

    • Sept. 11, 2001 – Ronkonkoma, New York
    Brian Harris, 29, was charged with a hate crime after he allegedly held an Arab American at gunpoint while making anti-Arab threats.

    • Sept. 11, 2001 – Eugene, Oregon
    Christopher Paul Younce, 33, was charged with a hate crime after allegedly making a threatening phone call to the Islamic Cultural Center.

    • Sept. 12, 2001 – South Huntington, New York
    Adam Lang, 76, was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and a hate crime after he allegedly tried to run down a Pakistani woman with his car.

    • Sept. 13, 2001 – Somerset, California
    Craig Jennings, 18; Jeffrey Lizotte, 17, and a 16-year-old were charged with a hate crime after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the roof of a convenience store owned by Arab Americans.

    • Sept. 12, 2001 – Salt Lake City, Utah
    Michael Herrick, a 31-year-old white man, was charged with first-degree felony aggravated arson and a hate crime after allegedly starting a fire at a Pakistani family’s restaurant.

    • Sept. 13, 2001 – Chicago, Illinois
    Andrew Holden, a 49-year-old white man, was charged with assault, a hate crime and disorderly conduct after allegedly threatening to bomb a food store owned by an Arab American.

    • Sept. 13, 2001 – Bloomington, Indiana
    A Muslim student was allegedly assaulted and verbally harassed by a white student.

    • Sept. 15, 2001 – Mesa, Arizona
    Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year-old Sikh and native of India, was fatally shot outside his gas station by Frank Silva Roque, who mistakenly believed Sodhi was Muslim. Roque then allegedly fired shots at a man of Lebanese descent working at another gas station, and at an Afghan family’s residence.

    • Sept. 15, 2001 – Dallas, Texas
    Waqar Hasan, a 46-year-old Pakistani immigrant, was shot to death in his convenience store. Mark Stroman, who allegedly said he was angry with people of Middle Eastern descent after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was charged with Hasan’s murder. Stroman was also charged with the Oct. 4 murder of Vasudev Patel, a 49-year-old native of India, at a gas station convenience store in Mesquite, Texas.

    • Sept. 18, 2001 – Fort Worth, Texas
    Three middle school students were charged with making a terroristic threat after allegedly threatening and harassing a schoolmate of Indian descent.

    • Sept. 19, 2001 – San Francisco, California
    Anti-Arab graffiti was spray-painted on an Iraqi-American grocery store in three separate incidents.

    • Sept. 29, 2001 – Reedley, California
    Abdo Ali Ahmed, a 51-year-old Yemeni man, was shot to death outside his convenience store. Two days earlier a note reading, “We’re going to kill all (expletive) Arabs,” was left on his car windshield.

    • Oct. 16, 2001 – Racine, Wisconsin
    Andrew E. Savagae, 40, was charged with a hate crime for allegedly yelling at an Indian store owner Savage believed to be of Middle Eastern descent.

    • Oct. 18, 2001 – Detroit, Michigan
    Douglas Snyder, 46, was charged with five counts of felony ethnic intimidation for allegedly using the Internet to threaten Arab Americans.

    • Oct. 21, 2001 – Anaheim, California
    Several Asian men shouted ethnic slurs and allegedly assaulted a man of Asian-Indian descent who they thought was Middle Eastern.

    • Oct. 21, 2001 – New York, New York
    Three men allegedly attacked a Pakistani store owner.

    • Oct. 30, 2001 – Los Angeles, California
    A swastika and the phrase “Go home Arab” was spray-painted on a business owned by an Arab-American man.

    • Oct. 30, 2001 – Elgin, Illinois
    Jose Ares-Torres, 27, was charged with committing a felony hate crime and disorderly conduct for allegedly threatening to kill Muslims.

    • Oct. 31, 2001 – Grand Forks, North Dakota
    Kevin Dvork, 22, was charged with simple assault for allegedly attacking a Saudi Arabian student.

    • Nov. 1, 2001 – Prince William, Virginia
    Stanley Elburn Smith III, 27, and James M. Terrell, 25, were charged with assault and battery, malicious wounding and fraud for allegedly assaulting a Pakistani man.

    • Nov. 2, 2001 – Seattle, Washington
    A 36-year-old man and two teenage boys were charged with suspicion of second-degree arson and malicious harassment after allegedly setting a fire at a local mosque.

    • Nov. 2, 2001 – Tacoma, Washington
    A bomb was detonated outside the home of a family of Middle Eastern descent.

    • Nov. 6, 2001 – Madison, Wisconsin
    Jeremy A. Giese, 21, was charged with a hate crime, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct for allegedly smashing the window of a bar after seeing two men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.

    • Nov. 7, 2001 – Tulelake, California
    Three white men allegedly fired gunshots while yelling racial slurs at a Latino man they believed was of Arab descent.

    • Nov. 12, 2001 – Trenton, Michigan
    Rob Moran, 20, was charged with ethnic intimidation for allegedly harassing a woman of Palestinian-Muslim descent.

    • Nov. 17, 2001 – Waterbury, Connecticut
    Rocks were thrown through windows at a local mosque during a Ramadan prayer service.

  18. JT, rule of the law, facts and truth does not matter to this administration, for AG to say things like “what other president/AG has been treated like this” has set the country on a road that is very dangerous. I know you have said we are at a tipping point, I think we may experience that before 2016

  20. List of stores looted and/or burned down in Memory of Michael Brown:

    St.Louis Fish & Chicken Grill
    Family Dollar
    Dollar Tree
    O’Reilly’s Auto Parts
    Beauty Mart
    A.J. & R. Pawn Shop
    Walgreens
    FedEx
    Cakes and More [Natalie DuBose’s store]
    JC Wireless
    AT&T
    STL Bread Company
    Conoco
    Auto Buy Credit
    Phillips 66
    McDonald’s
    Red’s Barbecue
    Taco Bell
    CVS
    Beauty Town
    Little Caesar’s
    Ferguson Liquor
    Public Storage
    Sam’s Meat Market
    Medicine Shop
    Commerce Bank
    Auto Zone
    Toys R Us
    Amoco
    Quiznos
    Dellwood Market
    Chop Suey restaurant
    TitleMax
    Antonio French’s Heal Stl Community Center

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