Officials Scramble to Quell Unrest in Missouri/ NYT 20140815

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Officials Scramble to Quell Unrest in Missouri

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and MICHAEL PAULSON

AUG. 14, 2014

[Photo]

Capt. Ronald S. Johnson of the state highway patrol at a demonstration in Ferguson, Mo. The patrol took over security Thursday.

- Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

FERGUSON, Mo. — President Obama on Thursday called for an end to the violence here, decrying actions by both the police and protesters. Hours later, the Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, ordered the state highway patrol to take over security from local law enforcement.

Clashes between heavily armed police and furious protesters in Ferguson have come to define the aftermath of a police officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager. The moves came as federal and state officials scrambled to quell a growing crisis, and as alarm rose across the country over images of a mostly white police force aiming military-style weapons at protesters and using tear gas and rubber bullets in a predominantly African-American community.

Criticism of the police response, already heavy because officials have refused to name the officer involved in the shooting, intensified after two journalists were arrested Wednesday while recharging their phones and working on their articles at a local McDonald’s.

The highway patrol official appointed by the governor to take over the response immediately signaled a change in approach. The official, Capt. Ronald S. Johnson, told reporters he had ordered troopers to remove their tear gas masks, and in the early evening he accompanied several groups of protesters through the city streets, clasping hands, listening to stories and marching alongside them.

“We’re just starting today anew — we’re starting a new partnership today,” said Mr. Johnson, who is African-American and grew up in the area. “We’re going to move forward today, to put yesterday and the day before behind us.”

Mr. Nixon, appearing defensive at times as he briefed reporters in St. Louis Thursday afternoon, did not criticize the local police but said of Ferguson, “Lately, it’s looked a little bit more like a war zone, and that’s not acceptable.” He said he had met with residents and listened to their concerns, and said of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old killed by the police in disputed circumstances on Saturday, that “a young man, a man not much younger than my own sons, lost his life.”

Mr. Nixon, a Democrat, who was Missouri’s attorney general before being elected governor in 2008, did not describe any specific changes to police practices, uniforms or equipment, but said it was time for a “different tone” that balanced the need to prevent looting against the right of residents to assemble and demonstrate.

“Ferguson will not be defined as a community that was torn apart by violence, but will be known as a community that pulled together to overcome it,” Mr. Nixon said.

President Obama, speaking to reporters at a hastily arranged news conference on Martha’s Vineyard, where he is vacationing, decried attacks on both the police and protesters, and pleaded for “peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.” He said he had spoken to Mr. Nixon before making his statement. He also confirmed that he had instructed the Justice Department and the F.B.I. to investigate the shooting death, “to help determine exactly what happened and to see that justice is done.”

Mr. Obama said that local officials — who have thus far released few details about the circumstances of the shooting, including the name of the officer who fired the fatal shots — had “a responsibility to be open and transparent about how they are investigating that death.” And he said the Justice Department was consulting with local officials about appropriate responses to the protests.

“There is never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy as a cover for vandalism or looting,” he said. “There’s also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Mr. Obama also criticized the detentions of reporters, saying, “Here in the United States of America, police should not be bullying or arresting journalists who are just trying to do their jobs and report to the American people on what they see on the ground.”

[Photo]

In Ferguson, Mo., Police Chief Thomas Jackson called the city a “powder keg” as he appealed for calm amid ongoing protests over the police shooting death of Michael Brown, a black, unarmed teenager.

- Scott Olson/Getty Images, August 14, 2014.

But the president seemed to many to be less emotional or personal than he had been two years ago, when he called for “soul searching” by Americans after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a young black man in Florida. “You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Mr. Obama said then.

Multiple national officials criticized the decision of the local police in Ferguson to use military-style garb and equipment to respond to the protests. “At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement. Later on Thursday, Mr. Holder called Mr. Brown’s parents and promised a full, independent investigation into their son’s killing, according to a Justice Department official.

Across the political spectrum, elected officials seemed to agree. “The militarization of the response became more of the problem than any solution,” Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, told reporters in Ferguson. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who has become a favorite of the American left, said on Twitter, “This is America, not a war zone.” And Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican with libertarian leanings and presidential aspirations, wrote an essay for Time in which he called the militarization of the police “an unprecedented expansion of government power” and said, “The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.”

Local officials were unapologetic on Thursday for their tough response to the protesters, which they said was necessitated by acts of violence and criminality: The police said some protesters had thrown rocks, bottles and even a Molotov cocktail toward officers. “The tactical units will be out there” if the situation warrants it, said the Ferguson police chief, Thomas Jackson. “If the crowd is being violent and you don’t want to be violent, get out of the crowd.”

The county executive, Charlie A. Dooley, called on Ferguson residents to “calm down, stand down and be reasonable.” But the mayor of St. Louis, Francis G. Slay, struck a slightly different tone, describing himself as “sad and angry” and saying: “Justice must happen. The grieving must be comforted. The angry must be heard. The innocent must be protected.”

Local police units were still helping to patrol Ferguson, but under a new command. The changes were obvious. Captain Johnson, walking through the streets on Thursday, was approached by Karen Wood, who had been clutching a bright green sign against police brutality.

“Do you have a minute to at least talk to, you know, a parent?” Ms. Wood asked.

The captain, a veteran law enforcement officer assigned to oversee security here, stopped. And as sweat stained his blue uniform, he clasped Ms. Wood’s right hand and stood, for several minutes, listening to her story.

[Video]

Standoff in Ferguson

For days after the death of Michael Brown, protesters faced off with the police as racially charged demonstrations gripped the streets of Ferguson, Mo.

- By Brent McDonald on Publish Date August 14, 2014.

“Our youth are out here without guidance, without leadership,” Ms. Wood told Captain Johnson. “It’s important that they know there is an order.”

When Ms. Wood finished, Captain Johnson patted her right shoulder and said softly: “I thank you. I thank you for your passion, and we’re going to get better.”

He then joined a group of passing protesters, marching with them as his eyes scanned the roadway. “I know a lot of them,” he said. “Our police department, we have to be reflective of our community, and that’s why we’re all out here.”

A marcher, Jessica Daniel, said she had watched speeches by Senator McCaskill and Governor Nixon and perceived a change. “The whole tone just turned around,” she said. “Now I feel like they are letting us know they think it’s tragic, too. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Outside a local restaurant, London’s Wing House, Kristopher Conner said he was upset both by Mr. Brown’s death and by the violence that followed it. He put up a sign at the restaurant saying that proceeds from soda purchases would benefit Mr. Brown’s family. And as officials here hoped for calm, so did Mr. Conner.

“I just want it to get back to normal,” he said. “Before everything happened, it was peaceful. You’d come to work, and now some people are just kind of worried that something might start up again.”