The police are the issue in Ferguson, not Michael Brown, the young man one of them shot.
Michael Brown was not stopped by the police because he was a suspect in a crime.
The police response to the civil unrest following a SHOOTING BY THE POLICE was over the top. Full riot gear, armored vehicles, and dogs for crowd control. This was in the neighborhood where the shooting was, not in the area of Ferguson where there was rioting, and looting mind you. It's curious that when MO Governor Jay Nixon put the State Police in charge of Ferguson, temporarily taking authority from the local police, making them put away the camouflage, riot gear, assault rifles, and armored vehicles, the demonstrations became noticeably less extreme. What is the deal with the Ferguson Police Dept? They shoot a kid (no criminal record), the local community is pissed, so they don full riot gear, gas up he armored vehicles, shoulder assault weapons, and bring out the hammer.
The latest is; Michael Brown was a suspect in a cigar theft. Yes, that's correct a cigar theft - not armed robbery, not larceny, or assault - cigar theft. As if that's a mitigating factor. It's not. It also fogs over the fact that Michael Brown was shot with his hands in the air attempting to surrender. Witnesses confirmed this. If this is "smear the victim" it's pretty weak. The shooting officer confronted the young men for jay walking. It doesn't matter if they were belligerent. There's not a witness who says they were. The police didn't arrest the other young man. If there were a crime, wouldn't they have?
Here's the issue, plain and simply, he was shot by the police with his hands in the air. That's it. There's nothing else relevant. It seems the Ferguson Missouri Police Dept is just really bad at being police.
