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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / Shitty Cops / Playing With Fire

Playing With Fire

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Who says the St. Louis police don’t have a sense of humor:

Michael Brown’s stepfather was hurt and angry when he urged a crowd in Ferguson, Missouri, last week to “Burn this bitch down,” his wife and attorney say, but that hasn’t stopped authorities from launching an investigation into whether he incited a riot.

Following the announcement that the grand jury would not indict Officer Darren Wilson in his stepson’s death, Louis Head stepped onto a platform above the crowd and embraced his wife, Brown’s mother. He then turned to the demonstrators — some of them shouting “F— the police!” — and yelled, “Burn this motherf—er down!” and “Burn this bitch down!”

No charges have been filed against Head, but police have interviewed people who know Head and who were with him November 24, the day a prosecutor announced that Wilson would not be indicted in the August 9 shooting, Police Chief Tom Jackson said Tuesday.

If the only person who is indicted related to the killing of Michael Brown is his father, the police are actively looking to create riots. I wouldn’t put it past them or McCulloch, though.

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    samiam

    Son of Steve Cole the one man angry mob still milking that sweet sweet Ferguson click bait goodness.

  2. 2.

    aimai

    Don’t jump to conclusions. I think if you stop, look down, you will find the conclusion is already right under your feet.

  3. 3.

    louc

    The cops of Ferguson and St. Louis County prosecutor during this whole tragedy have done everything they possibly could to make the situation much, much worse than it needs to be. They might as well dragged a 100 gallon tank of gasoline in the middle of the town and set it on fire. At first I attributed to incompetence. The more they keep doing it, I think it’s pure and unadulterated malice.

  4. 4.

    RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac)

    Perhaps a B-2 flying out of Whiteman AFB on their way to Afghanistan can “accidentally” drop a 500-lb piece of ordnance on the FPD HQ. Preferably with all of the officers inside.

    Because that’s what’s really needed here. The FPD to be destroyed, root and branch.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    police have interviewed people who know Head and who were with him November 24

    Too bad witnesses are unreliable.

  6. 6.

    Pogonip

    But what benefit do they derive from inciting more riots? Haven’t they had enough bad publicity?

  7. 7.

    waspuppet

    So I guess if people take you up on your incendiary rhetoric, you’re gonna suffer some consequences. I guess Cliven Bundy, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Michele Bachmann and Joni Ernst should be getting pretty nervous right about now HAHAHA just kidding they’re white.

  8. 8.

    Pogonip

    My mom was addicted to Fox until she became too senile to follow it. My dad is now watching it in sort of a nostalgic way. They have a program called ” The Five” that is much, much worse than anything I’ve seen on there before. I’m glad he won’t be scared. (At 87, he figures he has little to lose even if the alien hordes do attack. He’ll just tell them to help themselves to all that stuff Mom left.). But I feel bad for all those other old people who will be scared.

  9. 9.

    Violet

    @Pogonip:

    But what benefit do they derive from inciting more riots?

    They get to show, yet again, that black people are “thugs” and “deserve what they get.” Keep the white people on the side of the police. Rioting black people = scary and dangerous.

  10. 10.

    pat

    I admit I haven’t been following the events too closely, but can anyone tell me what the f the National Guard and all those heavily armored police were doing when the businesses on West Florisant ave. went up in flames?

    Was there video? Where was the media?

  11. 11.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @Pogonip:

    I think one reason is it would “prove them right” about their absurdly over-the-top heavy-handedness earlier, and give them more of a green light to keep on with it.

  12. 12.

    burnspbesq

    @Pogonip:

    But what benefit do they derive from inciting more riots?

    Are you kidding? Riots are an excuse to kill, maim, and arrest more of Them. What’s not to love about riots?

  13. 13.

    Violet

    @Pogonip: Have you seen the program “Outnumbered”? I think they hashtag it as “Out#’d”. It’s four women and a a guy in the center of the semicircle seating. The women are mostly the same every day but they rotate out the guy. It’s infuriating to me because it’s totally from a male point of view. That poor man is “Outnumbered” by those harpies–who are all dressed in their finest bobblehead slutwear–tight, short skirts, plenty of leg (no pesky desk to obscure those gams!). They can’t even keep the same guy there because what poor guy could take being “outnumbered” by those lovely ladies day after day? Too difficult!

    It’s so sexist just from the initial concept, let alone whatever they do or talk about. It’s the worst they’ve got on Fox and that’s saying a lot.

  15. 15.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    This is one of those situations where my feelings are complicated. Even for a grieving parent, Head’s comments were at best grossly careless given the situation. When riots are already threatened, yelling, “Burn this bitch down!” to an angry crowd IS incitement to riot. That may not have been what he meant but it is what he did. It’s the kind of thing that, in the abstract, I think should be prosecuted.

    However, my fellow Americans have made it absolutely clear that they disagree with me on this, at least if the person doing the incitement is white. So, whatever my abstract feelings on this, if Head does get indicted for incitement to riot here it will be a travesty.

  16. 16.

    jimmiraybob

    Just two points for accuracy:

    It is Michael Brown’s stepfather not father that is being investigated. I believe that Michael Brown’s father had consistently called for a peaceful response.

    It is apparently the St Louis County and Ferguson police departments that are investigating not the St Louis City police department.

    On another note, Darren Wilson testified that Michael Brown had cigarillos in his hand during the scuffle inside the police car – first in one hand and then the other. Does anybody know if cigarillos were actually found at the scene?

  21. 21.

    srv

    It’s a terrible thing to say, and it’s unfortunate. And that’s why they’re reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do. This is not a time for remarks like that; there never is.

  24. 24.

    Violet

    @GregB: White people have been stealing from black culture since forever. Maybe it’s time for black people to steal some tactics from white people. Memorize whatever Cliven Bundy said that Sean Hannity, Limbaugh, etc. said was perfectly fine and acceptable. Chant whatever it was while holding aloft pictures of Cliven Bundy and walking through Ferguson. Turn that shit right back on them.

    I’ve also referenced the Black Panthers and gun and Reagan and how that got some gun laws passed. If black people marched around demonstrating their second amendment rights, things might change a lot faster. Even though it’s middle-aged white men who are the scary ones. I’m not advocating African-Americans do that because I understand it’s dangerous. But I do think it might have an effect.

  25. 25.

    mai naem mobile

    @burnspbesq: what did green eggs and ham do to you that they deserve to be shoved up samians ass? You could shove poison ivy or ticks up his ass though.

  27. 27.

    Denali

    Can anyone tell me about the testimony of Michael Brown’ s friend? Wasn’t he a witness to what transpired?

  29. 29.

    scav

    Tacitly fomenting riots and violence is a retroactive justification for their hair-trigger and extremely violent response.

  30. 30.

    Archon

    @Violet:

    Don’t get me wrong it’s ironic as a thought experiment but If a 12 year old with a BB gun alone in a park can get shot dead in 2 seconds flat by a cop, it would be a downright police turkey shoot if a bunch of black men showed up at an event with rifles.

  32. 32.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @burnspbesq:

    @samiam:

    If I shove some green eggs and ham up your miserable ass will you go away?

    I am trying to find a suitable rhyme for “Would you like them in your colon?”

  34. 34.

    Archon

    @Denali:

    I doubt if the white grand jury members bothered to even listen to Dorian Johnson’s testimony, not only was he Mike Brown’s friend but I mean have you heard his inner city black vernacular? And look at his braids! If anything that thug was probably cheering Brown on as that hulking, raging beast struggled for brave officer Wilson’s gun.

    Besides much more reliable white witnesses to tell us what really happened, take a gander at witness number 40’s testimony…

  36. 36.

    jharp

    I have not yet seen this brought up.

    If the Ferguson protesters would have done like the Cliven Bundy protesters and pointed loaded firearms at law enforcement do you think law enforcement would have just backed off and left the area like they did at the Bundy ranch?

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @jharp:

    It’s been brought up.

    @Jebediah, RBG:

    Would you like them with James Brolin?

    ETA: I made myself chuckle with the thought that James Brolin is about to get a Google alert about this comment.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jimmiraybob:

    Does anybody know if cigarillos were actually found at the scene?

    Hmm….perhaps they got picked up much faster than Brown’s body was…

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @jharp: I think you knew the answer to this question even as you typed it.

    Very much rhetorical in nature.

  40. 40.

    RaflW

    @GregB:

    He should have shouted:
    “Time for Second Amendment remedies.”

    Yep. And if he could have been standing in a pasture stolen from the Feds, it’d be all that much better for him, legally. Well, if he was white.

  43. 43.

    tom

    MB’s stepfather inciting a riot has been a regular talking point from conservatives in comment sections since the day they made the announcement, I’m surprised it took this long to worm it’s way back to the police dept.

  44. 44.

    Hal

    Just tell Mr. Head to run for Congress. Then when you claim second amendment solutions or call for people take arms up against the Government you can just say you’re a tea party member who’s angry about the loss of your constitutional rights or something.

    And poor Joe Scarburough is sick of people talking about the poor poor police.

    Apparently Black people just don’t know what’s good for them. They don’t know how to pick their own heroes according to Joe Scarborough, because he says that “Michael Brown is a Thug… who knocked over a Liquor Store…and doesn’t deserve to be the face of Black Oppression in America”

    “The cops have every reason to be pissed off this morning,” Scarborough said. He argued that the five players on the St. Louis Rams who raised their arms in solidarity with Ferguson on Sunday based their gesture on “lies” that contradicted findings of a grand jury investigation.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/01/1348631/-Joe-Scarborough-has-a-Lecture-for-Black-America?detail=facebook#

  49. 49.

    Baud

    I was trying to find out what state law “inciting a riot” might violate, and I couldn’t find anything that fit exactly. Here’s what I found after a quick search:

    574.010. 1. A person commits the crime of peace disturbance if:

    (1) He unreasonably and knowingly disturbs or alarms another person or persons by:

    (a) Loud noise; or

    (b) Offensive language addressed in a face-to-face manner to a specific individual and uttered under circumstances which are likely to produce an immediate violent response from a reasonable recipient; or

    (c) Threatening to commit a felonious act against any person under circumstances which are likely to cause a reasonable person to fear that such threat may be carried out; or

    (d) Fighting; or

    (e) Creating a noxious and offensive odor;

    (2) He is in a public place or on private property of another without consent and purposely causes inconvenience to another person or persons by unreasonably and physically obstructing:

    (a) Vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or

    (b) The free ingress or egress to or from a public or private place.

    574.040. 1. A person commits the crime of unlawful assembly if he knowingly assembles with six or more other persons and agrees with such persons to violate any of the criminal laws of this state or of the United States with force or violence.

    574.050. 1. A person commits the crime of rioting if he knowingly assembles with six or more other persons and agrees with such persons to violate any of the criminal laws of this state or of the United States with force or violence, and thereafter, while still so assembled, does violate any of said laws with force or violence.

    574.060. 1. A person commits the crime of refusal to disperse if, being present at the scene of an unlawful assembly, or at the scene of a riot, he knowingly fails or refuses to obey the lawful command of a law enforcement officer to depart from the scene of such unlawful assembly or riot.

    2. Whoever teaches or demonstrates to any other person the use, application, or construction of any firearm, explosive, or incendiary device capable of causing injury or death to any person, knowing or intending that such firearm, explosive, or incendiary device be used in furtherance of a civil disorder, is guilty of the crime of promoting civil disorder in the first degree.

  50. 50.

    CALfan

    The first night of the riots, the Ferguson police left a police car parked unattended on the street abt one block from the police station. They did the same thing the next night. Both cars were attacked and torched by the rioters. It made impressive TV footage.

    Both cars could have been parked in the Police Hdqtrs lot, we could see there was plenty of room for them. Why, in preparing for a possible riot, did the Ferguson Police leave their equipment out for the rioters to burn?

  51. 51.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Hal: The intern killer has to kiss up to the cops, or they’ll reopen the investigation of the death that terminated his political career.

  53. 53.

    dww44

    @Baud: I see what you did there.

    @GregB: Would we be talking about this in the same way if Mr. Head had used those words. It would have been poetic justice if he had and the local authorities still decided to investigate for inciting violence!

  54. 54.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Archon: The purpose of all the selected information releases in the first week after the murder of Michael Brown was to jink the potential jury pool…to include the grand jury pool…in St.Louis county.

    They knew the wingnutosphere would spread this carefully selected information far and wide, and taint the opinions of anyone not paying close attention, or predisposed to back Wilson, who is definitely being judged by the color of his skin, as is Brown and Brown’s family.

    They’ve succeeded, I think, in shaping the perceptions surrounding the incident and the events that unfolded following it in their favor. The public at large, at least the ones the media parasites have been asking, seem to think that it is just that Darren Wilson gets away with murder. After all, he was defending himself from one of those people. You know, a “thug”. We can’t use the N word so we’ll use “thug” instead. It conveys the same meaning.

    A lot of white people need to be bitch slapped upside the head…repeatedly.

  56. 56.

    Hal

    The other thing about this Ferguson case that irritates the hell out of me is when people use the grand jury decision to try to tell other people that Darren Wilson must be absolutely innocent. He was “cleared” by the grand jury. Um, no he wasn’t. He was not indicted. This is not like being found not guilty, and even then, being found not guilty just means the jury didn’t believe there was enough evidence to convict. What people like Scarborough are conveniently overlooking is the corrupt manner in which this Grand Jury was conducted and the purposeful misleading of the grand jury members by the prosecution. That’s not to downplay the police and there attempts at misleading the public with erroneous information, or police unions raising all that money for Wilson just in time for his retirement.

    For instance:

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/30/3597641/this-prosecutor-mistake-skewed-the-law-in-darren-wilsons-favor/

    Assistant District Attorney Kathi Alizadeh instructed grand jurors on how to decide the case based on a statute that was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court two decades ago. As O’Donnell points out, that statute had not been valid for the entirety of Alizadeh’s legal career. That statute said that officers can use any force they deem necessary to achieve the arrest of a fleeing suspect. It does not preclude deadly force ,saying only that officers are “justified in the use of such physical force as he or she reasonably believes is immediately necessary to effect the arrest or to prevent the escape from custody.”

    The U.S. Supreme Court nixed this law and others like it when it held in the 1985 case of Tennessee v. Garner that police officers could not use deadly force simply because a suspect was fleeing. They could only do so if that suspect also threatened the lives of others. A 1979 Missouri statute was never changed.

  57. 57.

    Curt

    @Violet: That was EXACTLY my impression of Outnumbered when it came on at my parents’ house. Just the title as a description of the setup tells you all you need to know about the sexist assumptions they’re playing to.

  59. 59.

    Hoot

    Ridiculous. Obviously when he repeatedly shouted “Burn this bitch down!” what he really meant was “Protest peacefully.”

  65. 65.

    D58826

    @ItAintEazy: What’s your point. The important people were protected.
    (snark alert)

    I do wonder if the Guard and the cops just sat it out the first night hoping that some fools would start trouble. And the fools did, unfortunately. Gives faux news and the echo chamber the chance to reinforce the basic message – ‘see the are all thugs’.

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