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A St. Louis County, Mo., prosecutor said Thursday that he will not be charging the White police officer who shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014, after quietly reopening the investigation.
Civil rights leaders and Brown's mother reportedly hoped that Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, who became the county’s first Black prosecutor in January 2019, might reopen the investigation into police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown six years ago.
Bell told reporters today that his decision was “one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do."
But after a five month investigation into the case’s evidence, witness statements and forensic reports, he came to the conclusion that “we cannot prove that he” committed murder or manslaughter.
The massive demonstrations that followed the shooting of Brown helped to solidify the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Mo., and around the country.
A federal investigation and a grand jury cleared Wilson of all charges months after Brown's death in 2014.
Bell didn’t face any backlash when he re-reviewed the investigation into Brown’s shooting because Wilson was never charged or tried, and there is no statute of limitations on murder charges.
Brown, accompanied by his friend, was told to get out of the middle to the street in a residential neighborhood by Wilson, when Brown approached the police vehicle. In the entire altercation, which lasted about 90 seconds, Wilson fired a total of twelve bullets, six of which struck Brown in the front of his body.
Witnesses said Brown, who was unarmed, had his hands up when he was shot, but federal investigators and the grand jury said the evidence showed otherwise.
Brown’s body was left in the street for four hours, which provoked outrage among his family and local residents, prompting the furious protests that ensued.
“Although this case represents one of the most significant moments in St. Louis’s history, the question for this office was a simple one: Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law?” Mr. Bell said during a press conference Thursday.
“After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did.”
Bell noted that just because Wilson was not found guilty of murder or manslaughter, he had not been exonerated.
“There are so many points at which Darren Wilson could have handled the situation differently and if he had, Michael Brown might still be alive,” Bell told reporters.
The Justice Department declined to charge Wilson, but released a highly critical report that noted racial bias in the Ferguson police department and the county courts.
The leftist outrage machine treated the fatal shooting of BLM “protestor” Garrett Foster last Saturday night in Austin, Texas with the customary spin, compete with a touching picture from Facebook of the deceased with his fiancé. Buzzfeed, for instance:
A man was killed Saturday night after gunshots were fired at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas.
A suspect — who witnesses said tried to drive through the crowd of protesters before shooting the victim — was detained and questioned Saturday night, but was later released "pending further investigation," Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Sunday.
The victim, who had multiple gunshot wounds, was brought to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No one else was injured during the incident, authorities said.
The victim was identified by family and friends as Garrett Foster, a 28-year-old Austin resident, who was protesting along with his fiancé, Whitney Mitchell, who is a quadruple amputee. Officials later confirmed his identity.
Shortly before he was killed, journalist Hiram Gilberto Garcia interviewedFoster, who was seen carrying a rifle. During the interview, Foster said that he had begun bringing his gun to protests after his roommate was arrested during one of them.
Openly carrying firearms in public places is legal in Texas, as long as it is not done "in a manner calculated to alarm," according to state law.
"They don’t let us march in the streets anymore, so I got to practice some of our rights," Foster said in the interview that was broadcast live on Periscope.
"I mean, if I use it against the cops, I'm dead, and I think all the people that hate us and want to say shit to us are too big of pussies to stop and actually do anything about it," Foster said.
Here is a YouTube clip of that interview in which Garrett rather ironically decried his opponents as “pussies.” The visage of the masked man is rather less charming (note Garrett’s eyes, the “window on the soul”) than the photo of the betrothed couple:
Hours later, the same journalist who interviewed Foster captured footage of the chaotic scene after he was fatally shot, including the sound of several gunshots.
"A car drove up — we were taking the streets — and he shot Garrett," an unnamed protester said in Garcia's video.
The protester said Foster was Mitchell's "caretaker, and has been for like 10 years."
A witness, Michael Capochiano, told the New York Times that he saw the suspect's car veer toward the crowd before the shooting, causing people to run away in fear.
But, as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story” is important. Yesterday, the shooter’s legal counsel identified him and told his version of the tale. Here is the press release from Clint Broden of Broden & Micklsen:
F. Clinton Broden and Broden & Mickelsen issue the following statement on behalf of our client, Daniel Perry.
Daniel Perry is an active duty sergeant with the United States Army. He is a former Eagle Scout from the North Texas area and served our country proudly for the past eight years. Sgt. Perry served a tour in Afghanistan and has been the recipient of numerous army awards and commendations.
On the evening of July 25, 2020, Sgt. Perry was in Austin, Texas driving for a ride share company in order to earn extra money. He had dropped his client off in the vicinity of Congress Avenue. He was then going to proceed to a “hot spot” in order to wait on notification to pick up another client or to pick up food for delivery. Sgt. Perry made a right onto Congress Avenue from Fourth Street and encountered a throng of people in the street. Prior to arriving at the corner of Fourth Street and Congress Avenue, Sgt. Perry did not know that a demonstration was taking place.
When Sgt. Perry turned on the Congress Avenue, several people started beating on his vehicle. An individual carrying an assault rifle, now known to be Garrett Foster, quickly approached the car and then motioned with the assault rifle for Mr. Perry to lower his window. Sgt. Perry initially believed the person was associated with law enforcement and complied with the command. After rolling down the window, it became apparent to Sgt. Perry that the individual with the assault rifle was not with law enforcement. It has now been confirmed by several witnesses that this individual with the assault rifle then began to raise the assault rifle toward Sgt. Perry. It was only then that Sgt. Perry, who carried a handgun in his car for his own protection while driving strangers in the ride share program, fired on the person to protect his own life.
Immediately after Sgt. Perry fired on the individual who raised the assault rifle toward him, a member of the crowd began firing on Sgt. Perry’s vehicle. Sgt. Perry drove to safety and immediately called the police. He waited for the police to arrive and fully cooperated with the police following the shooting and he continues to do so.
We urge the public to allow the police to conduct a full investigation. We also need to correct statements that have been reported by the press. First, Sgt. Perry never left his vehicle preceding or immediately following the shooting. Second, Sgt. Perry did not “flee” but immediately called police upon getting to safety. Finally and most importantly, police have interviewed witnesses
who were demonstrating with Mr. Foster and these witnesses have confirmed that Mr. Foster raised his assault rifle in a direct threat to Sgt. Perry’s life.
Sgt. Perry and his family deeply sympathize with the loss and grief being experienced by Mr. Foster’s family. Sgt. Perry is devastated by what happened. Nevertheless, that does not change facts. The simple fact is that Sgt. Perry reasonably perceived a threat to his life when, as has now been confirmed by independent witnesses, Mr. Foster raised his assault rifle toward Sgt. Perry who was sitting in his car. We simply ask that anybody who might want to criticize Sgt. Perry’s actions, picture themselves trapped in a car as a masked stranger raises an assault rifle in their direction and reflect upon what they might have done if faced with the split second decision faced by Sgt. Perry that evening.
DANIEL PERRY
As always, keep in mind that our justice system is designed to get at the truth, and that process is still unfolding before our eyes. The Austin PD has not arrested Sgt. Perry, and no doubt leftists are outraged at that. Stay tuned.
George Soros-backed St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has come under fire recently for allegedly traveling across the country and world on a criminal justice reform organization's dime without reporting it, in apparent violation of city and state law.
According to an investigation into the matter by local news station KMOV-TV, the progressive attorney embarked on numerous trips in 2018 and 2019 that were "paid for in full, or in part, by an organization called Fair and Just Prosecution, a group that professes to support progressive prosecutors," yet she did not disclose the trips on travel reports.
Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has also contributed to Fair and Just Prosecution, the report said.
Gardner, who has risen to the national spotlight in recent weeks after filing charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey for brandishing guns while defending their home from Black Lives Matter protesters, was also allegedly unresponsive on trips, causing work to be back-logged.
Sources reportedly told KMOV that Gardner's traveling was "prolific and problematic," and that she was often "unreachable."
Gardner had previously reported trips to New York, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and other places paid for by the organization in 2017. But when the news outlet submitted a public information request about any trips during the following two years, nothing turned up, despite pictures of Gardner posted on social media showing her on several trips.
"When something isn't reported, the public has a right to ask well, why wasn't it?" Patrick Ishmael, who works for the St. Louis-based Show-Me Institute, said. "Elected officials have an obligation to be transparent and that's especially true related to their duty because the public wants to know their officials are working for the interest and not someone else's."
KMOV noted that "St. Louis' laws require every elected official report their travel and whether it was paid for with public or private funds" and that "sometimes Missouri law also mandates information about who paid for travel and lodging."
In response to the allegations, Gardner's office said:
The suggestion that there is any quid pro quo involved here is patently absurd. By working with FJP, she has access to a network of prosecutors who are also implementing change in their communities across the country, prosecutors who are working to create a fairer, more equitable justice system and move beyond the failed policies of the past that created our mass incarceration crisis ...
Circuit Attorney Gardner refuses to apologize for seeking reasonably opportunities to further her knowledge and access prosecutors from throughout the nation for best practice. The suggestion that she would be persuaded to follow an alternative that is not focused on addressing the root causes of crime for a few plane tickets and hotel rooms is insulting.
The Circuit Attorney is confident that the public will see through this veiled attempt to disparage her and her efforts to continue to change our criminal justice system to be more just and fair.
In response to KMOV's inquiry, Fair and Justice Prosecution acknowledged that it is standard practice for the organization to pay for a prosecutor's food, lodging, and airfare for their events. They did not confirm the number of trips that Gardner has been on.
Earlier this year, Gardner faced criticism after a grand jury probe was launched into her failed prosecution against former Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.
Tulane University activists are demanding that the school offer reparations to the descendants of slaves who worked on the plantation that became campus grounds nearly 200 years ago.
Before the school's establishment in 1834—created as a medical university in response to the cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox epidemics—the land was used as a plantation. The school's Black Student Union (BSU) asked administrators to identify the descendants of the enslaved people who once worked on the plantation and offer them full tuition and more, according to a list of demands posted online.
"We demand that Tulane allocates funding to track down the descendants of the enslaved people who labored at the Tulane plantation and offer them full tuition and room and board scholarships that include a living stipend each semester of attendance at Tulane," the post reads. "Tulane must first acknowledge the trauma it has inflicted on black community members. It is Tulane's responsibility to recognize their longstanding history of racism and take actionable steps to reconcile those practices."
The Black Student Union did not return a request for comment.
The demands were not limited to the descendants of slaves. The group also said the university must offer financial assistance to students who suffered "emotional damage and trauma" by the on-campus presence of the "Victory Bell" after the university discovered in February that it was used to direct the movement of enslaved Africans in 1825. The 1960s-era campus landmark—dubbed the McAlister slave bell by activists—was removed after the university discovered its ties to slavery. The group now demands reparations and apologies from past Tulane presidents—dead or alive—who allowed the bell to represent the campus.
"We demand reparations for the emotional damage and trauma of the McAlister slave bell due to racist tradition of touching the bell for ‘good luck' for generations," the post reads. "We demand every living president of Tulane University since the bell was obtained, or a relative of the presidents if deceased, apologize to their black alumni and current student body for their negligence in addressing the slave bell's history."
The activist's demands do not include suggestions for how to quantify "emotional damage and trauma" or for what reparations for students would look like. Rachel Altman, a rising senior at Tulane and a libertarian activist, told the Washington Free Beacon these demands, specifically asking relatives of deceased Tulane presidents to apologize, are indicative of authoritarian behavior.
"I think it would be very hard to find a consistent policy for offering reparations to the students for emotional trauma because it is so easy to falsify and it is so hard to quantify," Altman said. "Personally, I don't think that it's reasonable to expect the relatives of people who apparently were complicit in something to apologize for it. That's what's done in North Korea, not the United States. That is absolutely a culture of authoritarianism."
Within the long list of demands, Altman found agreement with student activists over the university's registered-protest policy. Tulane requires student groups to register protests with the university at least two days in advance. BSU's Instagram post claims the policy is "a form of censorship" and creates an unnecessary presence of police on campus.
"We should not need approval from the university nor TUPD presence to protest," the demands read. "It defeats the purpose, it is unnecessary policing, and it is a form of censorship. It should be up to the discretion of the organization whether TUPD presence is necessary." Altman agrees that universities should encourage more speech and activism, not less.
The group's demands include speech-censorship provisions. The student activists want the university to investigate current and incoming students who post "hate speech" on social media. The group also demands a zero-tolerance policy for "racist, sexist, misogynistic, or bigoted language." Altman fears left-wing groups that view capitalism as bigoted will use these terms for political benefit to silence conservatives and libertarians.
"We know that the left has a habit of calling things bigoted that is very subjective … and what they consider ‘bigoted' can change day to day," Altman said. "So, unless there's a consistent policy for how they're going to enforce that or how they're going to define bigotry, it can be used to suppress the speech of conservative and libertarian students. I've seen many of my peers sharing these graphics from social media saying that capitalism itself is racist and patriarchal and bigoted. I refuse to accept a policy that will shut down my speech if I'm advocating for capitalism."
Tulane University did not respond to a request for comment.
The aftermath of a shooting at a Brooklyn memorial for a pair of teens who lost their lives to a separate incident of gun violence over the weekend.Wayne Carrington
A man was shot on Monday night at a memorial for two teens slain in a drive-by shooting while playing basketball on a Brooklyn court over the weekend, sources said.
The 22-year-old male was shot in the left shoulder at around 10:30 p.m. outside George Walker Jr. Park in Cypress Hills, according to law enforcement sources.
The male suddenly felt pain in his left shoulder and was transported by ambulance to Brookdale Hospital where he was listed in stable condition.
The unidentified victim had been attending a vigil for 16-year-old Kleimer Mendez and 18-year-old Antonio Villa, sources said.
Mendez and Villa were killed on Sunday when a gunman popped out of the sunroof of a dark-colored Honda SUV and opened fire into the park.
Mendez was struck in the head and died at the scene. Villa was also struck by gunfire and died later at Kings County Hospital.
A third teen was hit by a bullet in the leg in Sunday’s shooting but was expected to recover, police said.
In a brazen crime caught on camera early Sunday morning, a group of men riding Divvy bikes surrounded an elderly man's car in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood, pulled the driver out and stole his vehicle.
Video of the incident shows approximately 12 men on bikes circling the victim's car at around 10 a.m. Sunday on Grand Avenue just west of Columbus Drive.
As the group blocks the driver, an 82-year-old man, from leaving, one man opens the door and begins to pull the victim out by his arm.
As seen on surveillance video, the victim eventually steps out of the driver's seat as four men jump in the car. They throw bags out of the vehicle before speeding away.
People who live and work in the neighborhood told NBC 5 they were shocked that the carjackers were so bold to strike in the middle of the day.
“It definitely makes me scared to walk alone ever, especially at night," said Streeterville resident Katie Villano. "But that video happened in broad daylight which makes me even more worried for all of our safety.”
A woman who works at the nail salon across the scene of the carjacking says she can't believe such a crime happened in front of her business.
"I feel very bad for the world right now," she said. "The country we live in is unsafe."
