A police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, is “fighting for his life” after being critically injured in an assault outside the city’s police station during protests on the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, the city’s police chief said Saturday.
Protesters were peaceful for most of Friday night, and police allowed them to block streets outside the station, Ferguson police chief Troy Doyle told reporters. Police also didn’t intervene when protesters began shaking a fence outside the station.
But Doyle said that when protesters broke the fence, destroying property on police grounds, he sent out an arrest team, which included Officer Travis Brown, who is Black.
Doyle said that a suspect charged Travis Brown, knocking the officer to the ground. Travis Brown suffered a severe brain injury after hitting his head in the fall.
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“He is in an area hospital right now fighting for his life,” Doyle said of the officer.
Doyle said Travis Brown started with the department in January and previously worked for the St. Louis County Police Department. He is part of a wave of Black officers hired into the department since 2014. Back then, there were just three Black officers in the department, but Black officers now make up more than half of the police force, Doyle said.
“He wanted to be part of the change,” Doyle said. “He wanted to make an impact in our community. He’s the type of officer that we want in our community. And what happens? He gets assaulted. I had to look his mother in the eye and tell her what happened to her son. I’m never going to do that again, I promise you that.”
St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell also met with the officer’s family.
“I always talk about you know the toughest part of this job is when we have a family that’s lost a loved one that we can’t bring justice to,” Bell said. “And I’ve got to tweak that. The toughest thing I’ve had to do is talk and console with a mother who doesn’t know if her child is doing to make it. And for what?”
Two other officers also were hurt, one sustaining an ankle injury and another an abrasion. Both were treated at the scene.
One of the suspects was charged Saturday with assault of a special victim, resisting arrest and property damage. He was ordered to be held on $500,000 cash only bond.
Bell said others also would be charged.
Michael Brown’s death led to massive demonstrations that helped to solidify the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri, and around the country.
In 2015, the Justice Department declined to charge Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Michael Brown, but released a highly critical report that noted racial bias in the Ferguson police department and the county courts.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
