Ferguson Riots Research Paper

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Pages: 5

Ferguson Riots

August 9, 2014
Day One
Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black teenager, is shot dead by a white police officer on a street in Ferguson, Missouri. Some witnesses claim Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was shot. The body remains in the street for four hours and crowds begin to gather at the site of the shooting.
August 10
St Louis County Police hold a press conference in which they claim Brown was killed because he was reaching for the officer's gun. Police refuse to name the officer involved in the shooting. Meanwhile, demonstrators gather at a makeshift memorial near the spot where Brown was killed and his parents hire attorney Benjamin Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, a black teen killed
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November 27
Wilson, the Missouri police officer who fatally shot the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, will likely never return to policing, his lawyer has said. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” Neil Bruntrager said. "Realistically, he can't go back to being a police officer, he knows that. There's no illusion about any of this."
December 1
President Barack Obama has called for more US police to wear lapel-mounted body cameras that record their interactions with the public, as the White House moved to calm public outcry over the Ferguson shooting incident.
March 4,
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The first report clears Darren Wilson, the white police officer, of criminal wrongdoing and says his decision to open fire on Michael Brown was "not unreasonable". The report also concludes that Brown probably did attack Wilson inside his police car and contradicts widespread claims Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was killed. The second report concluded that the Ferguson police department where Wilson worked had a deeply ingrained culture of racism and that it unconstitutionally targeted black people for arrests, fines and jail.
March 12
Two police officers in the US flashpoint town of Ferguson were shot early on Thursday during the latest protest over the treatment of black people by the mainly white police force. One officer was shot in the face and the other in the shoulder as a protest rally outside the police station in the Missouri town was dispersing, Jon Belmar, St. Louis County police chief, told reporters.
August 9
Demonstrators gather in Ferguson to mark the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Police claim that shortly before midnight there was an exchange of gunfire between two groups not involved in the demonstrations. An 18-year-old man, Tyrone Harris, allegedly opens fire on an unmarked police car and detective’s shoots back. Harris is taken to hospital in critical condition and is later charged with assaulting an