Ferguson police officer who killed black teen resigns from force

By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister
FERGUSON, Mo. Sat Nov 29, 2014 11:01pm EST

Officer Darren Wilson is pictured in this undated handout evidence photo from the August 9 Ferguson Police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, released by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office on November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office/Handout via Reuters
FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) - The white police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in a St. Louis suburb has resigned, his lawyer said on Saturday, as activists set out on a 120-mile (193-km) march to protest the killing and a grand jury's decision not to indict him.
The resignation of Darren Wilson from the Ferguson, Missouri, police force comes nearly four months after he killed 18-year-old Michael Brown and days after the announcement that he would not face criminal charges.
The incident, which has led to months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson, has reignited a debate over race relations and the use of police force in the United States.
Neil Bruntrager, an attorney for Wilson, confirmed that the officer had submitted his resignation, a move that was long anticipated, no matter the outcome of the grand jury's deliberations.
"In terms of his safety, it is probably the best thing for him," said Cynthia Burnes, 26, a nurse's assistant from St. Louis who was among about 50 people gathered in front of the Ferguson police headquarters on Saturday evening. "He is black-listed from this moment on."
A man was arrested at the scene after he knelt in the middle of the street with his hands raised, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot," a common refrain at Ferguson protests.
In a letter published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Wilson said he had been told that "my continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the City of Ferguson at risk, which is a circumstance that I cannot allow."
Wilson, who said he was acting in self-defense when he shot Brown, said he wanted to wait until after the grand jury's decision before he made his decision to resign, according to the letter.
After a night of arson and looting in Ferguson following the decision, demonstrations this week spread to other major U.S. cities, with some of the protests targeting shopping malls on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, as the holiday shopping season got under way.
On Saturday, activists shifted gears by setting off on a seven-day march from Ferguson to Jefferson City, the state capital. The march, reminiscent of the civil rights marches of the 1960s, was organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The NAACP is calling for a reform of police practices, a new police chief in Ferguson and a national law to prevent racial profiling by police.
More than 150 people set out on the "Journey for Justice" from the Canfield Green Apartments, near the spot where Brown was shot and killed, with some marchers singing the decades-old protest song "We Shall Overcome."
Sandra Henry, 53, a registered nurse from St. Louis, said she was marching to press for reform of police practices.
"This isn't just about St. Louis. We are speaking for other cities, other countries too," Henry said.
All told, about 100 marchers were expected to make the entire journey, with about 1,000 expected to be part of the final leg of the march, said NAACP staff member Jamiah Adams.
By nightfall, a dozen people had gathered at the Ferguson police station, the scene of some of this week's worst riots. No police officers were standing out front but a small crew of national guard lingered in the back.
The shooting and its aftermath are taking a toll on the state's finances. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has called for the state assembly to convene for a special session to approve more funds for the Missouri Highway Patrol and the National Guard after months of protests over Brown's death.
In New York, activists rallied in Harlem on Saturday to draw parallels between Brown's death and what they see as other cases of unjustified police violence.
(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Clelia Oziel, Dan Grebler, Gunna Dickson and Clarence Fernandez)

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Ferguson demonstrators begin 120-mile march to Missouri state capital

By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister
FERGUSON, Missouri Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:46pm EST

1 of 8. Protesters hold their hands up while marching down Market Street during a demonstration against the grand jury decision in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of Michael Brown in San Francisco, California November 28, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Elijah Nouvelage
FERGUSON, Missouri (Reuters) - Activists in Ferguson, Missouri, on Saturday began a 120-mile march to the state capital to protest the killing of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer, a case that has rekindled a national debate over U.S. race relations.
The seven-day march to Jefferson City, organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, began with more than 150 people setting out from the Canfield Green Apartments, where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed on Aug. 9 by Officer Darren Wilson.
The NAACP is calling for a reform of police practices, a new police chief in Ferguson and a national law to prevent racial profiling by police.
The "Journey for Justice," which is reminiscent of the civil rights marches of the 1960s, began with some people singing the decades-old protest song "We Shall Overcome." Participants carried signs proclaiming "Black Lives Matter" and "Equality Now!"
A grand jury's decision on Monday not to charge Wilson ignited protests in Ferguson and a riot that left buildings torched and stores looted. Wilson has said he acted in self-defense.
Since the announcement on Monday, demonstrations have spread to major cities across the United States, resulting in hundreds of arrests during the week, including at least 16 arrests overnight in Ferguson, police said.
Sandra Henry, 53, a registered nurse from St. Louis, came to the Canfield Green Apartments to join the march and said she would like to see a change in how police operate.
"This isn't just about St. Louis. We are speaking for other cities, other countries too," Henry said.
All told, about 100 marchers were expected to make the entire journey, with more joining segments of the long walk, said NAACP staff member Jamiah Adams.
The NAACP expects about 1,000 people to be part of the final leg of the march, said Adams, who will participate along with other NAACP staff members and the organization's president, Cornell William Brooks.
Marchers will be able to shuttle back and forth between the walk and their residences in the St. Louis area by taking a bus back to a staging area, Adams said.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has called for the state assembly to convene for a special session in the state capital to approve more funds for the Missouri Highway Patrol and the National Guard, after months of protests over Brown's death.
In New York, activists planned to rally in Harlem on Saturday to draw parallels between Brown's death and what they see as other cases of unjustified police violence.
(Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C., Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Frank McGurty, Clelia Oziel and Dan Grebler)

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St. Louis-area mall closes on Black Friday as Ferguson protests spread

AppId is over the quota
By Daniel Wallis and Edward McAllister
FERGUSON, Mo. Fri Nov 28, 2014 6:57pm EST

1 of 2. A protester holds a sign outside a burning Walgreens drug store after a grand jury returned no indictment in the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, November 24, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Adrees Latif
FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) - Demonstrators shut down a shopping mall near Ferguson, Missouri, at the start of the holiday shopping season on Friday as protests over the killing of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer turned against some retailers around the country.
After a mostly quiet Thanksgiving Day, protesters were out in force again on Friday to decry Monday's decision by a grand jury not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb.
At locations around the country, protesters said they were encouraging a boycott of Black Friday to highlight the purchasing power of black Americans and to draw links between economic inequality and racial inequality.
"Voicing your opinion is not enough," said Sergio Uzurin, a protester in front of Macy's flagship store in New York. "You have to disrupt business as usual for this to happen and that's the only thing that's ever made change. It's the real way democracies function."
The Ferguson shooting, which has renewed a debate over race relations in the United States and the treatment of blacks and other minorities by police, has triggered months of sometimes violent protests in Ferguson and sympathy protests elsewhere.
On Friday, more than 200 people in New York sought to disrupt shopping with a protest in front of the Macy's store in Herald Square and marched into the ground floor as staff and shoppers looked on in apparent surprise.
Similar protests were also staged in other cities including Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland, California, on Black Friday, when many retailers offer deep discounts and shoppers traditionally turn out in droves.
At the Galleria near St. Louis, demonstrators chanted "No Black Friday" before briefly lying down on the second floor, leading officials to effectively shut down the mall for the rest of the day. Security guards stopped anyone from entering the shopping center, telling disappointed bargain-hunters that it was closed for the rest of the day.
Eddie Cox, the 23-year-old assistant manager of a Lids baseball cap store, said he watched with pride as the demonstrators marched past his shop.
Cox, who is black, said his store was seeing only about a fifth as many Black Friday sales as last year due to the call by activists for a boycott.
"The business side of me kinda hates it, but at the same time, the young, activist, pro-conscious part of me loves every bit of this," Cox said. "It's a really cool time to be young, black and American."
Ferguson itself was peaceful for a second day in a row, after more than 100 arrests earlier in the week, when some demonstrators reacted to the grand jury's decision by looting or burning businesses, and officers in riot gear used tear gas to disperse crowds.
On Friday, police briefly reopened West Florissant Avenue, a main thoroughfare where many of the damaged or destroyed businesses are located. That allowed clean-up efforts to begin there and gave residents a glimpse of more burned-out stores including a clothing store and an Enterprise car rental outlet. By nightfall, the strip was closed again.
Near police headquarters, the scene of the worst violence earlier in the week, residents painted murals on the boarded-up windows of stores. Burned-out cars at one car dealership on West Florissant were loaded onto the back of flatbed trucks.
'ANY RESOURCES POSSIBLE'
In the neighboring town of Dellwood, the mayor held a news conference in which he called for state and federal aid for his city, where 13 businesses were burned on Monday and five were looted.
"I am asking that Dellwood not be forgotten," Mayor Reggie Jones said. "I am asking for any resources possible to help us rebuild."
About 16 people were arrested after chaining themselves to a train during a demonstration at a Bay Area Rapid Transit rail station in Oakland over the Missouri grand jury’s decision, a BART spokeswoman said.
In the U.S. capital, striking Wal-Mart employees dominated a Black Friday protest at Washington’s Union Station, said a spokeswoman for the organizer, OUR Walmart.
A Walmart store near Ferguson decided to cancel Black Friday sales, and merchandise was moved to other locations in the St. Louis area, employees said.
(Additional reporting by Emily Flitter in Ferguson, Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, and Barbara Goldberg in New York; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Will Dunham)

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