At a rally held on Sunday at a Ferguson church, Missouri Highway Patrol captain Ron Johnson, who's been tasked with heading up police response to the protest in recent days after the local and county police were relieved of that command by Missouri's governor, rose to a standing ovation and gave a speech to the crowd. You can watch the whole thing here:
He said things people seemed like they've been waiting to hear from a police officer. Things like, directly to Mike Brown's family: "I wear this uniform, and I should stand up here and say I'm sorry." And to the crowd: "I will stand and protect you; I will protect your right to protest."
And: "When this is over, I'm going to go in my son's room. My black son, who wears his pants sagging, wears his hat cocked to the side, got tattoos on his arms. But that's my baby."
Then later on Sunday, news broke that a private third-party autopsy, done at the request of Michael Brown's family, had been completed and released.
Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was killed by a police officer, sparking protests around the nation, was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, a preliminary private autopsy performed on Sunday found.
One of the bullets entered the top of Mr. Brown’s skull, suggesting his head was bent forward when it struck him and caused a fatal injury, according to Dr. Michael M. Baden, the former chief medical examiner for the City of New York, who flew to Missouri on Sunday at the family’s request to conduct the separate autopsy. It was likely the last of bullets to hit him, he said.
Mr. Brown, 18, was also shot four times in the right arm, he said, adding that all the bullets were fired into his front.
There will be at least two more autopsies in addition to this one, one local and one federal.
Later on yesterday, protests turned again into dramatic clashes with police, as a late evening march of protesters was met with tear gas from police. Captain Johnson said, late last night/early this morning, that elevated police response was necessary after attacks on police by people in the crowd. A curfew is in place, indefinitely. Also late last night/early this morning, Missouri governor Jay Nixon issued an executive order calling the National Guard in to Ferguson. Schools in Ferguson, scheduled to open this past Thursday but delayed until today, have delayed the first day of school yet again.
If you'd like to watch events unfold in real time, you can follow scores of reporters who are working in Ferguson: Poynter has curated a list on Twitter here. Also of interest: St. Louis Public radio has been live-tweeting the events out there, and St. Louis alderman Antonio French has been posting lots of images and videos out of Ferguson as well. Notably, French was arrested and held overnight on Wednesday evening for "unlawful assembly," though he has said he was hiding out in his car to escape from tear gas.
