On the eve of the decision not to prosecute of Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, state prosecutors are considering charges against Michael Brown’s family. While potentially explosive in light of the rejection of civil rights charges, the case is based on what is reported as criminal acts of assault and theft by Brown’s mother Lesley McSpadden and other family members.
The incident stems from who is entitled to cash in on the name of Michael Brown. A “Justice for Mike Brown” stand was set up outside of a restaurant to sell teeshirts and other items. One of the vendors was Pearlie Gordon, 54, the mother-in-law of Michael Brown Sr. (who is divorced from McSpadden).
The police say that a group of about 20-30 suspects “jumped out of vehicles and rushed” Gordon, Tony Petty, and Matthew Cosey. McSpadden, 34, is quoted as saying “You can’t sell this shit.” What reportedly ensued was an intense debate of who had trademark options on the name of the dead teenager. Gordon reportedly states that “unless McSpadden could produce documentation stating that she had a patent on her son’s name she (Gordon) was going to continue to sell her merchandise.” Police say that Desureia Harris, McSpadden’s mother, then began to rip down t-shirts while other family members began “tearing her booth apart.” Gordon allegedly was knocked to the ground and repeatedly struck in the head. Gordon accused McSpadden of running up and punching her while one of McSpadden’s group encouraged her to “get her ass.”
Also accused is McSpadden’s husband, Louis Head, who was previously the subject of calls for prosecution in his encouraging protesters to “Burn this bitch down” after no charges were brought against Wilson.
Petty was also transported to a local hospital for treatment of “injuries sustained during the assault.” Police also found that more than $1500 in merchandise and $400 in cash “was stolen by unknown subjects” during the assault and that they fled before the arrival of the police.
To make matters worse for the Brown family, there is a witness as well as a videotape showing the assault on the vendors, according to police.
That record would seem highly compelling for criminal charges. They have sworn statements from the alleged victim, third-party witnesses and a possible videotape showing a vendor being pinned on the ground. That does not rule out defenses based on claims that the vendors started the fight. However, self-defense would not excuse the alleged taking of merchandize and cash.
In a normal situation, there would have already been arrests and charges in such a case. However, this case seems anything but conventional and prosecutors may be more timid after prior events triggered arson and looting. The delay may be a reflection of that caution, but (absent new evidence) there may be no avoiding arrests in the case since at least two people were sent to the hospital and violence was involved in the alleged crimes.
Here is the police report: Brown Family police report
And Obama is the Messiah. With drones.
@Queen of the Dust Bunnies
” ‘I’ve been struck by how few comments here seem to reflect a concern for civil liberties.’
“That is because you don’t understand the difference between Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.”
OK, now that you’ve liberated me from my “ignorance,” let me rephrase my statement: I’ve been struck by how few comments here seem to reflect a concern for civil rights and the civil liberties underlying civil rights.
Is that better?
No, it was Scott Walker’s fault. EVERYTHING is either Bush’s fault or Walker’s fault. EVERYTHING!
This “blame the police” is way down on the list of problems in the black community. Before bad policing is a 70% illegitimacy rate. Drug/alcohol problems. Looking upon being good in school as being “white”[maybe the most self destructive]. Looking upon reading as being white. Child abuse. Gun violence. Gangs. I could go on. Blaming the police is pandering by black politicians and racial pimps like Al Sharpton. It’s eaten up by some blacks and white guilt whites. Personal responsibility is the answer. But, of course, that is racist.
But when an IRS employee is meddling in people’s business (a non-lethal action usually) our liberty is up in flames,
This is an example of violating a Civil Right. Not a Civil Liberty violation. By focusing on, targeting and discriminating against people based on their political affiliation, this is a violation of Civil Rights.
There is not equal treatment under the law when the IRS targets one group for whatever reason, race, creed, political affiliation there is discrimination and a violation of Civil Rights. Not a violation Civil Liberties.
The comment @ 4:32pm explains much. A member of the Al Sharpton Posse. At least he/she admits it now.
I’ve been struck by how few comments here seem to reflect a concern for civil liberties
That is because you don’t understand the difference between Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
1.Civil rights are those that are granted by a government for the protection of its citizens in respect to guaranteeing fairness and checking discrimination.
2.Civil liberties are the basic rights guaranteed to all citizens in a country without any further speciality.
3.’Civil rights’ means an individual’s right to get equal treatment in cases of education, housing, employment, and a lot more. ‘Civil rights’ means ‘free from discrimination or unfair treatment.’ On the other hand, ‘civil liberties’ are broader rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
4.Unlike civil rights, civil liberties are protective in character.
5.Civil rights pertain to the concept of how an individual is treated by others. Civil liberties pertain to the actual freedoms that an individual enjoys under a Constitution.
Brown not only violated the Civil Liberties of others by being a thug, beating people up, assaulting people including Officer Wilson. He doesn’t have the Civil Liberty to do those things to other people. My Civil Liberties are not subordinate to those of a person who is breaking the laws and who is actively harming other people.
The Madison shooting is Scott Walker’s fault.
Really? Are you sure it wasn’t the whining, elitist, clueless, narcissistic feminists’ fault?
I mean, I can agree that Scott Walker is whining, elitist, clueless and narcissistic, but is he really in a better position than the feminists to set the tone for law enforcement in Wisconsin?
Nick – I thought I read that the Madison thing was Bush’s fault.
Beldar here: The Old South racism: 1) Blacks could not walk on the sidewalk, sit at lunch counters, go into many stores, or say Hi to white women; 2) If you asked (Blazing Saddles) the question: Where da White women at? you would get lynched; 3) Segregated separate schools, if you lived next door to a white kid you still got sent to the all black school; 4) Sundown towns (in the North too) N guy dont let the sun go down on you in this town.
The CNN mantra is to equate (no pun intended) Selma fifty years ago with Ferguson today.
The most dangerous place for an over weight black male in America is the chokehold neighborhoods of NYC where an Italian cop will choke you to death on tv in a New York minute in front of ten other cops.
The theiving by the municipalities in North Saint Louis County is imposed more by the black munis than the half white ones. The black judge in Jennings says to the defendants: Give me my money. MY money he says.
No judicial immunity. Where are the lawyers at? Sue the astardBays before pig latin goes out of style. Blazing Saddles could be redone with NYC as the home town being raided by the immigrants.
Ken Rogers,
Indeed. That’s an important point.
But when an IRS employee is meddling in people’s business (a non-lethal action usually) our liberty is up in flames, we must call JT!!! I digress, because the IRS issue is actually an important one, too.
The legal system is a social institution. To understand this makes it easy to understand that, of course, it’s going to treat most poor people, people of color, and public outcasts in the United States harshly in the majority of cases and deadly in other cases.
@TJustice
“A civil liberties blog should be the forum for people to be at the forefront of the movement against militarized policing.”
Interesting point, and that’s what attracted me to JT’s blog in the first place, but I’ve been struck by how few comments here seem to reflect a concern for civil liberties. On the contrary, the majority of them seem to reflect an actually authoritarian mindset.
http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Police-investigate-shooting-in-Madison-295439371.html?device=tablet&c=y
19 year old mixed race unarmed man shot and killed in Madison, WI.
“The least you can do is read it.”
Mr. Schulte
Disagree and attack the person’s intellect. I’ve read it several times. There was a struggle in which the gun went off, then Mr. Wilson shot Mr. Brown.
The personal attacks.. It’s a shame… there isn’t anything to learn when y’all stoop to that level.
“Arson and looting ARE NOT civil disobedience!! They are felonies and craven.”
Nick Spinelli,
True. But you ignore the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens that have taken place in marches and disobedience since the no bill vote. It has been across the country. Literally from east to west coast. Most people on here fail to see that in their rage against Michael Brown and his family.
Also, there was plenty of civil disobedience in Ferguson. Check your facts, please. Personally, I was part of numerous demonstrations, peaceful marches, sit-ins, etc. Did you miss the retired police captain from Philadelphia?
A civil liberties blog should be the forum for people to be at the forefront of the movement against militarized policing.
“you have either forgotten or are ignoring the whole struggle in the car over the gun and the gun going off thing. At this point, Michael Brown becomes a dangerous felon. Not just for Officer Wilson, but all officers.”
Mr. Schulte,
I love this “the gun going off thing”
Honesty dictates that we should say Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown after a struggle. Portraying Michael Brown as Hulk after one video is a joke. It’s clear that Mr. Wilson was a large human being with training to be on the police force.
Even with the struggle, the fact that another young black male is dead at the hands of a police force should sound the alarms if one cares about civil liberties for all.
TJustice – someone was kind enough to give us the DoJ report. The least you can do is read it.
@TJustice
“Even with the struggle, the fact that another young black male is dead at the hands of a police force should sound the alarms if one cares about civil liberties for all.”
Another *unarmed* young black male, TJ.
And people who have no problem with police shootings of unarmed people cannot even *imagine* that could ever happen to them, nor even that *non-lethal* police brutality could ever affect them personally.
“TJustice, per usual, is supplying the comic relief.”
Edward
Excellent point. I’m hysterical.
@Beldar
“The city government in Ferguson is crooked about running up parking ticket fines and locking poor people up but it is distinct from old South racism as depicted on CNN.”
I don’t watch TV much, and certainly not CNN, so I want to ask what it is that distinguishes the racism of Ferguson’s city government from “old South racism as depicted on CNN”?
Beldar here. On the population shift situtation in the Saint Louis area discussed above. There is a present trend for young white folks who grew up in parts west like Warrenton, St. Charles and west suburbs, to move back to the City in areas known as Soulard or West End. They seem to want a more cultured lifestyle with music and nice architecture. White flight in this area of the country was about each generation getting a new home in a new subdivision and those opportunites kept moving west. I am staying in Ferguson itself and the racial tension expressed on the news is a big fiction.
The city government in Ferguson is crooked about running up parking ticket fines and locking poor people up but it is distinct from old South racism as depicted on CNN. The news is segway to the Selma history going on this week. The news media should address the larger problem which is poor white trash and poor blacks who live off welfare and can not raise children. If you go onto Google Maps and traverse around Ferguson you will see that it is not a Ghetto by any means. The Canfield area where the shooting occurred looks like some nice apartment neighborhood in nice Miami. The culture is get your check when you are 14 by getting knocked up and then have granma raise the kid and there is no dad around ever. That is a white and black phenomena in America. Sometimes it takes an outsider to see through the apCray.
Reblogged this on saboteur365.
On the other hand:
“The Justice Department conducted two investigations—one looking into the shooting of Michael Brown, and another into the Ferguson Police Department. The first report made clear that there was no prosecutable case against one individual officer. The second report made clear that there was a damning case to be made against the system in which that officer operated:
“Ferguson’s law enforcement practices are shaped by the City’s focus on revenue rather than by public safety needs. This emphasis on revenue has compromised the institutional character of Ferguson’s police department, contributing to a pattern of unconstitutional policing, and has also shaped its municipal court, leading to procedures that raise due process concerns and inflict unnecessary harm on members of the Ferguson community.
“Further, Ferguson’s police and municipal court practices both reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias, including racial stereotypes. Ferguson’s own data establish clear racial disparities that adversely impact African Americans. The evidence shows that discriminatory intent is part of the reason for these disparities…
“Partly as a consequence of City and FPD priorities, many officers appear to see some residents, especially those who live in Ferguson’s predominantly African-American neighborhoods, less as constituents to be protected than as potential offenders and sources of revenue…
“The ‘focus on revenue’ was almost wholly a focus on black people as revenue. Black people in Ferguson were twice as likely to be searched during a stop, twice as likely to receive a citation when stopped, and twice as likely to be arrested during the stop, and yet were 26 percent less likely to be found with contraband. Black people were more likely to see a single incident turn into multiple citations. The disparity in outcomes remained ‘even after regression analysis is used to control for non-race-based variables.’
“One should understand that the Justice Department did not simply find indirect evidence of unintentionally racist practices which harm black people, but ‘discriminatory intent’—that is to say willful racism aimed to generate cash. Justice in Ferguson is not a matter of ‘racism without racists,’ but racism with racists so secure, so proud, so brazen that they used their government emails to flaunt it.
The emails including ‘jokes’ depicting President Obama as a chimp, mocking how black people talk (‘I be so glad that dis be my last child support payment!’), depicting blacks as criminals, welfare recipients, unemployed, lazy, and having ‘no frigging clue who their Daddies are.’ This humor—given the imprimatur of government email—resulted in neither reprimand, nor protest, nor even a polite request to refrain from re-offending. ‘Instead,’ according to the report, ‘the emails were usually forwarded along to others.’
“One should resist the urge to clutch pearls and carp about the ‘mean people’ of Ferguson. Bigoted jokes are never really jokes at all, so much as a tool by which one sanctifies plunder. If black people in Ferguson are the 47 percent—a class of takers, of immoral reprobates, driving up crime while driving down quality of life—then why should they not be ‘the sources of revenue?’ In this way a racist ‘joke’ transfigures raw pillage into legal taxation. The ‘joke’ is in fact an entire worldview that reveals that the agents of plunder, the police, are in fact not plundering anyone at all. They are just making sure the reprobates pay their fair share.
“That is precisely what Ferguson’s officials told federal investigators:
“Several Ferguson officials told us during our investigation that it is a lack of ‘personal responsibility’ among African-American members of the Ferguson community that causes African Americans to experience disproportionate harm under Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement. Our investigation suggests that this explanation is at odd with the facts.
“On the contrary the investigation ‘revealed African Americans making extraordinary efforts to pay off expensive tickets for minor, often unfairly charged, violations, despite systemic obstacles to resolving those tickets.’ And while the investigation found no lack of ‘personal responsibility’ among black residents of Ferguson, it did find that the very same people making the charge were often busy expunging fines for their friends:
“In August 2013, an FPD patrol supervisor wrote an email entitled ‘Oops’ to the Prosecuting Attorney regarding a ticket his relative received in another municipality for traveling 59 miles per hour in a 40 miles-per-hour zone, noting ‘[h]aving it dismissed would be a blessing.’ The Prosecuting Attorney responded that the prosecutor of that other municipality promised to nolle pros the ticket. The supervisor responded with appreciation, noting that the dismissal ‘[c]ouldn’t have come at a better time.’
“Also in August 2013, Ferguson’s Mayor emailed the Prosecuting Attorney about a parking ticket received by an employee of a non-profit day camp for which the Mayor sometimes volunteers. The Mayor wrote that the person ‘shouldn’t have left his car unattended there, but it was an honest mistake’ and stated, ‘I would hate for him to have to pay for this, can you help?’ The Prosecuting Attorney forwarded the email to the Court Clerk, instructing her to ‘NP [nolle prosequi, or not prosecute] this parking ticket.’
“In November 2011, a court clerk received a request from a friend to ‘fix a parking ticket” received by the friend’s coworker’s wife. After the ticket was faxed to the clerk, she replied: ‘It’s gone baby!’
“In March 2014, a friend of the Court Clerk’s relative emailed the Court Clerk with a scanned copy of a ticket asking if there was anything she could do to help. She responded: ‘Your ticket of $200 has magically disappeared!’ Later, in June 2014, the same person emailed the Court Clerk regarding two tickets and asked: ‘Can you work your magic again? It would be deeply appreciated.’ The Clerk later informed him one ticket had been dismissed and she was waiting to hear back about the second ticket.
“It must noted that the rhetoric ‘personal responsibility’ enjoys not just currency among the white officials of Ferguson, but among many black people (‘black-on-black crime!’) who believe that white supremacy is a force with which one can negotiate. But white supremacy—as evidenced in Ferguson—is not ultimately interested in how responsible you are, nor how respectable you look. White supremacy is neither a misunderstanding nor a failure of manners. White supremacy is the machinery of Galactus which allows for the potential devouring of everything you own. White supremacy is the technology, patented in this enlightened era, to ensure that what is yours inevitably becomes mine.
“This technology has proven highly effective throughout American history. In 1860 it meant the transformation of black bodies into more wealth than all the productive capacity of this country combined. In the 1930s it meant the erection of our modern middle class. In Ferguson, it meant funding nearly a quarter of the municipal budget:
“The City has not yet made public the actual revenue collected that year, although budget documents forecasted lower revenue than was budgeted. Nonetheless, for fiscal year 2015, the City’s budget anticipates fine and fee revenues to account for $3.09 million of a projected $13.26 million in general fund revenues…
“In a February 2011 report requested by the City Council at a Financial Planning Session and drafted by Ferguson’s Finance Director with contributions from Chief Jackson, the Finance Director reported on ‘efforts to increase efficiencies and maximize collection’ by the municipal court. The report included an extensive comparison of Ferguson’s fines to those of surrounding municipalities and noted with approval that Ferguson’s fines are ‘at or near the top of the list….’ While the report stated that this recommendation was because of a ‘large volume of non-compliance,’ the recommendation was in fact emphasized as one of several ways that the code enforcement system had been honed to produce more revenue.
“The men and women behind this policy did not approach their effort to ‘produce more revenue’ somberly, but lustily. As the fruits of plunder increased, Ferguson officials congratulated and back-slapped each other:
“In one March 2012 email, the Captain of the Patrol Division reported directly to the City Manager that court collections in February 2012 reached $235,000, and that this was the first month collections ever exceeded $200,000. The Captain noted that ‘[t]he [court clerk] girls have been swamped all day with a line of people paying off fines today. Since 9:30 this morning there hasn’t been less than 5 people waiting in line and for the last three hours 10 to 15 people at all times.’ The City Manager enthusiastically reported the Captain’s email to the City Council and congratulated both police department and court staff on their ‘great work.’
“It is a wonder they did not hand out bonuses. Perhaps they did. The bonus of being white in Ferguson meant nigh-immunity from plunder. The bane of being black in Ferguson meant nigh-inevitable subjugation under plunder. Plunder is neither abstract nor theoretical. Plunder injures, maims, and destroys. Indeed the very same people who were calling on protestors to remain nonviolent were, every hour, partner to brutality committed under the color of law:
“We spoke with one African-American man who, in August 2014, had an argument in his apartment to which FPD officers responded, and was immediately pulled out of the apartment by force. After telling the officer, ‘you don’t have a reason to lock me up,’ he claims the officer responded: ‘N*****, I can find something to lock you up on.’ When the man responded, ‘Good luck with that,’ the officer slammed his face into the wall, and after the man fell to the floor, the officer said, ‘don’t pass out motherf****r because I’m not carrying you to my car.’
“The residents of Ferguson do not have a police problem. They have a gang problem. That the gang operates under legal sanction makes no difference. It is a gang nonetheless, and there is no other word to describe an armed band of collection agents.
“John Locke knew:
‘The injury and the crime is equal, whether committed by the wearer of a crown, or some petty villain. The title of the offender, and the number of his followers, make no difference in the offence, unless it be to aggravate it. The only difference is, great robbers punish little ones, to keep them in their obedience; but the great ones are rewarded with laurels and triumphs, because they are too big for the weak hands of justice in this world, and have the power in their own possession, which should punish offenders. What is my remedy against a robber, that so broke into my house?’
“What are the tools in Ferguson to address the robber that so regularly breaks into my house? One necessary tool is suspicion and skepticism—the denial of the sort of the credit one generally grants officers of the state. When Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown there was little reason to credit his account, and several reasons to disbelieve it. The reason is not related to whether Michael Brown was ‘an angel’ or not. The reasons are contained in a report rendered by the highest offices of the American government. Crediting the accounts of Ferguson’s officers is a good way to enroll yourself in your own plunder and destruction.
“Government, if its name means anything, must rise above those suspicions and that skepticism and seek out justice. And if it seeks to improve its name it must do much more—it must seek out the roots of the skepticism. The lack of faith among black people in Ferguson’s governance, or in America’s governance, is not something that should be bragged about. One cannot feel good about living under gangsters, and that is the reality of Ferguson right now.
“The innocence of Darren Wilson does not change this fundamental fact. Indeed the focus on the deeds of alleged individual perpetrators, on perceived bad actors, obscures the broad systemic corruption which is really at the root.
“Darren Wilson is not the first gang member to be publicly accused of a crime he did not commit. But Darren Wilson was given the kind of due process that those of us who are often presumed to be gang members rarely enjoy. I do not favor lowering the standard of justice offered Officer Wilson. I favor raising the standard of justice offered to the rest of us.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/
As to Darren Wilson’s culpability in the death of Michael Brown, I think we have to accept the determination of the Justice Department’s investigation:
“Yesterday the Justice Department released the results of a long and thorough investigation into the killing of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson. The investigation concluded that there was not enough evidence to prove a violation of federal law by Officer Wilson. The investigation concluded much more. The investigation concluded that physical evidence and witness statements corroborated Wilson’s claim that Michael Brown reached into the car and struck the officer. It concluded that claims that Wilson reached out and grabbed Brown first ‘were inconsistent with physical and forensic evidence.’
“The investigation concluded that there was no evidence to contradict Wilson’s claim that Brown reached for his gun. The investigation concluded that Wilson did not shoot Brown in the back. That he did not shoot Brown as he was running away. That Brown did stop and turn toward Wilson. That in those next moments ‘several witnesses stated that Brown appeared to pose a physical threat to Wilson.’ That claims that Brown had his hands up ‘in an unambiguous sign of surrender” are not supported by the “physical and forensic evidence,’ and are sometimes, ‘materially inconsistent with that witness’s own prior statements with no explanation, credible for otherwise, as to why those accounts changed over time.’
“Unlike the local investigators, the Justice Department did not merely toss all evidence before a grand jury and say, ‘you figure it out.’ The federal investigators did the work themselves and came to the conclusion that Officer Wilson had not committed ‘prosecutable violations under the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute, 18 U.S.C. § 242.’ ”
http://www.theatlantic.com/