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Michael Brown

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On August 9, 2014 Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson, MO police officer, after a convenience store robbery. The shooting sparked protests in Ferguson and throughout the nation.

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10 Aug, 2015

20 people arrested in Ferguson

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Police arrest 20 people during a night of night of protests, during which some protesters throw both rocks and bottles against police. Police used loudspeakers to tell protesters to move out of traffic. When they don’t comply, several people are taken into custody. At least one officer fires pepper spray into the crowd. More arrests follow before protests and the police presence begins to diminish at 1 a.m.

9 Aug, 2015

Shooting and arrest on Brown’s death anniversary

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A gunfight occurs between four policemen and 18-year-old Harris on the periphery of demonstrations commemorating the killing a year ago of Brown. Harris is shot and critically wounded by the police. County prosecutors file charges against Harris for felony assault on law enforcement officer. Authorities say that the shooting is not related to the Brown protests. Attorney General Lynch:

The weekend’s events were peaceful and promoted a message of reconciliation and healing. But incidents of violence, such as we saw last night, are contrary to both that message, along with everything that all of us, including this group, have worked to achieve over the past year.

5 Aug, 2015

New Yorker profile

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The New Yorker runs a profile of Wilson, covering his early life, training as a police officer, the events surrounding Brown’s death, and his current situation. On the night after the shooting, he talks about being home with his wife:

Neither one of us knew what the reaction was going to be the next day. You know, a typical police shooting is: you get about a week to a week and a half off, you see a shrink, you go through your Internal Affairs interviews. And then you come back…We stayed up all night watching, like, ‘Oh, my God—what’s going on? What are they doing?’

When his wife’s six-year-old son asks him what is happening:

I said, ‘Well, I had to shoot somebody.’ And he goes, ‘Well, why did you shoot him? Was he a bad guy?’ I said, ‘Yeah, he was a bad guy.’

15 Mar, 2015

Arrested

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Police arrest Williams for shooting two police officers in Ferguson. Attorney General Eric Holder:

This arrest sends a clear message that acts of violence against our law enforcement personnel will never be tolerated. In the days ahead, we will continue to partner with the authorities in St. Louis County to secure justice for all those affected by this heinous and cowardly crime. And we will continue to stand vigilant in support of public safety officers and the communities they serve.

5 Jan, 2015

Juror sues prosecuter

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A member of the grand jury that doesn’t indict Ferguson police officer Wilson sues county prosecutor, McCulloch about the public’s impression of the grand jury’s inaccurate work. Grand juror:

I am seeking to speak out because the public’s impression of the grand jury’s work is not entirely accurate.

24 Dec, 2014

Antonio Martin, 18, shot dead

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Martin, who is from the 80% black suburb of Berkeley, Mo., several miles from Ferguson, is shot dead on Christmas eve by a white police officer responding to a call of larceny at a gas station. The shooting is captured on security tape, and a weapon is recovered at the scene. Berkeley  mayor Thodore Hoskins, who is African-American as are a majority of the city officials, holds a press conference to distance the shooting from other shootings of black young men by white police officers:

We’re trying to indicate that this wasn’t the same as Ferguson. You couldn’t even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York.

14 Dec, 2014

Officer faces disciplinary action

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A St. Louis officer faces disciplinary action for wearing a tag on his sleeve bearing the last name of the former Ferguson officer who shot and killed Brown. The officer wears the Wilson tag to show solidarity while stationed at City Hall.  St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson:

I couldn’t be more disappointed and I thinks the officer will get some days off for his actions. We spend a lot of time working on professionalism and building a bridge in the community.

9 Dec, 2014

I Can’t Breathe shirts

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lebron-james-i-cant-breatheJames, Garnett, Irving, and Williams wear the black shirts with white text during the pre-game warmups for the Nets-Cavs clash, after Bulls guard Derrick Rose wore the same shirt in a Saturday pre-game warmup in solidarity for Garner. Nets guard Jarrett Jack, who played for the Cavs last season and says he supplied the Cavs players with the shirts after he heard James was looking for them:

I just heard people’s opinion on the topic, and I know [the Cavaliers] are on the road, this is the place where it happened, so if they wanted to be a part of the cause or make a statement without actually necessarily saying any words, I definitely extended the invitation…I know us as a team we’re gonna go out and try to make a stance and show that we’re a team that’s not with prejudice. We want to have tolerance for everybody.

Key witness statement not included

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dorianJohnson, a friend of deceased teenager Brown was with him when he was shot. A law enforcement interview with Johnson is not included among thousands of pages of documents released after a grand jury decided not to indict officer Wilson in the case. Ed Magee, spokesman for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch:

If it’s not there, it’s not there. I don’t know what was released.

Federal autopsy report released

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A federal autopsy in the Ferguson police shooting reaches similar conclusions to those performed by local officials and a private examiner hired by Brown’s family. The Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’s autopsy on Brown:

Was among grand jury documents that St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch released Monday with little explanation. Other documents include transcripts of eight federal interviews of possible witnesses to Brown’s shooting in early August; police radio traffic; and an alleged audio recording of the shots fired by Wilson.

8 Dec, 2014

Hired by St. Louis city

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Johnson, friend of deceased teenager Brown is hired by the city of St. Louis through a training program. 22 year old Johnson is working through a state-grant program called St. Louis’ Agency on Training and Employment, or SLATE. Jeff Rainford:

Johnson met the program’s low eligibility requirements.

New recordings and documents released

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The St. Louis Prosecutors office releases new documents from the investigation into the death of Brown. The documents include eight partially redacted transcripts of FBI interviews with witnesses and a transcript of Prosecutor Robert McCulloch’s Nov. 24 announcement that the grand jury did not indict Ferguson Officer Wilson in Brown’s death. The 53 recordings of police radio traffic between Ferguson officers and the police dispatcher, begin with a report of a stealing in progress. Police radio dispatch exchanges:

Send us several more units over here. There’s gonna be a problem. We’re gonna need crowd control here.

6 Dec, 2014

Missouri bar owner apologizes

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MugShots bar owner is apologizing to the public and has stopped offering the Brown shot deal:

It’s not meant to cause any harm. I should have thought a little bit more about it before I made it a shot special.

Missouri bar offers shot special

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bar shotMugShots, a bar in St. Joseph, Missouri is offering Brown shot specials. The bar is selling the shots on a special at six shots for $10.00 and facing public scrutiny and controversy. Bar Co-owner:

It looked like it was getting a good response so I just decided to use it here.

2 Dec, 2014

Investigated for inciting riot

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Head is being investigated by St. Louis County police for intending to incite a riot. Head yelled ‘Burn this motherf—er down!’ and ‘Burn this bitch down’ in front of a crowd, after learning of the Ferguson Grand Jury decision. Police Chief Tom Jackson:

We are pursuing those comments, and there’s a lot of discussion going on about that right now, but I really can’t get into that at this time. We can’t let all that happened in Ferguson and Dellwood and the community die. Everyone who is responsible for taking away people’s property, their livelihoods, their jobs, their businesses — every single one of them needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

1 Dec, 2014

Calls Ferguson rioters ‘scumbags’

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Barkley calls the Ferguson rioters ‘scumbags’ in an interview on Philadelphia radio station 97.5 The Fanatic. Barkley says he supports the Ferguson Grand Jury’s decision.

Those aren’t black people, those are scumbags. There is no excuse for people to be out there burning down people’s businesses, burning down police cars. The true story came out from the grand jury testimony. Three or four witnesses, who were black, said exactly what the cop [WILSON] said.

Wants to mend police-community relations

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President Obama announces new actions aimed at boosting accountability of local law enforcement and improving policing policies in minority communities. The policies include: 50,000 Police Body Cameras, Task Force on Police Practices, White House Report on Police Militarization and Executive Order on Military-Style Equipment Acquisition. House officials:

We believe the cameras would also help improve trust between communities and their police forces. The program is one piece of a $263 million budget request that also includes money for training of law enforcement officers and more resources to reform police departments.

30 Nov, 2014

Wilson will not receive severance

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Knowles, Ferguson mayor, announces during a press conference that Wilson will not receive severance pay.

There is no severance agreement with Officer Wilson and the city of Ferguson and the city of Ferguson will not be making a severance payment to Officer Wilson. Now is the time for the city of Ferguson to begin it’s healing process.

29 Nov, 2014

Guard Ferguson rooftops

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Andrews, a former Defense Department contractor who is now a weapons engineer, recruits citizens to guard the rooftops of Ferguson businesses under the auspices of the national group “Oath Keepers”.

It’s really a broad group of citizens, and I’m sure their motivations are all different. In many of them, there’s probably a sense of patriotism. But I think in most of them, there’s probably something that they probably don’t even recognize: that we have a moral obligation to protect the weakest among us. When we see these violent people, these arsonists and anarchists, attacking, it just pokes at you in a deep place. I don’t want any racists in my group. I don’t want any people who want to visit violence on any group. I only want professionals with real credentials that can be verified and have experience in dealing with violence.

Resigns from Ferguson Police Department

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Wilson resigns from the Ferguson Police Department, effective immediately, after being told by the department they had received threats of violence if he stayed on the force.

I’m not willing to let someone else get hurt because of me.