Source St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FERGUSON, MO — A Ferguson police officer suffered a brain injury and was “fighting for his life” Saturday after he was pushed and hit his head Friday night during a protest on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.
Officer Travis Brown was pushed down while trying to arrest someone for property damage outside police headquarters, Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle said during a news media briefing Saturday afternoon.
“So my officer went out to affect an arrest on an individual who broke and stole portions of our fencing out here, a large portion of our fencing, and as he approached the suspect, he was charged violently with the suspect’s shoulder, which knocked him down,” Doyle said.
The officer hit his head when he fell, Doyle added.
Shortly after the briefing, Elijah Gantt, 28, of East St. Louis, was charged with assaulting Brown. He faces two counts of fourth-degree assault on a special victim, resisting arrest, first-degree assault and property damage. He was being held in custody Saturday on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
Doyle would not comment further on Brown’s condition, but Ferguson police spokesperson Pat Washington said earlier the officer was in critical condition. She also confirmed Brown is not related to Michael Brown’s family.
Both Doyle and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said they had visited the officer’s family at the hospital.
“He is at an area hospital right now, fighting for his life,” Doyle said.
Brown has been with the Ferguson department since January of this year and previously was with St. Louis County police for more than 10 years, Washington said.
“Travis Brown got into this job because he was inspired to do the right thing,” Doyle said. “He wanted to be part of the change. 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.”
Two other officers had minor injuries during the protest, Doyle said.
Around 40 people had gathered Friday night on the 10-year anniversary of the police shooting of Michael Brown, which started off as a reunion in front of the Ferguson police headquarters.
Traffic was diverted to make room as they drank beer, ate food, and filled the street.
Angelique Kidd, who protested daily in Ferguson in 2014, joins other protesters outside the Ferguson police department on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown's death during a gathering of several of the original demonstrators.
Many there had protested 10 years ago on the same street, South Florissant Road.
At the tense news briefing Saturday afternoon, Doyle stood with Bell and about 50 St. Louis County and Ferguson officers behind him. He broke away from his prepared statement to lament the situation.
“This police department — this Ferguson Police Department — since 2014 has been a punching bag for this community,” he said.
“The police department back in 2014 — we don’t even have them officers here anymore. So what are you protesting these officers (for)? Everything that the activist community has advocated for, as far as body-worn cameras, implicit bias training, crisis intervention training, we have done all of this. What are we protesting?”
Doyle said the majority of the people at the Friday night gathering were peaceful, and his officers did not intervene until close to midnight.
He said throughout the night, the protesters were shaking a fence outside the police station.
“We did not even react,” he said. “We stayed here and let them shake the fence. That happened several times throughout the night, up until the point that they broke the bottom portions of our fence. They destroyed property on our police department’s parking lot. It was at that time I sent out an arrest team to make an arrest for destruction of property.”
Sometime prior to that, police officers also went out and helped a woman who was having a seizure, Doyle said.
Workers were seen Saturday afternoon working on the metal gate in front of the department.
In addition to filing charges against Gantt, the prosecutor’s office charged four other protesters Saturday.
St. Louis resident Emily Davis is accused of third-degree assault on a special victim and resisting or interfering with arrest. Keith Rose of St. Louis, Derrick Robinson and St. Louis resident Phillip March were all charged with first-degree property damage.
Gantt and Davis were still in custody Saturday afternoon, according to authorities. Davis was being held on a $5,000 cash-only bond. The other three had not been taken into custody.
“We do believe that people have a right to peacefully protest,” Bell said during the media briefing. “But when that line is crossed and people are harmed or property is damaged, people have to be held accountable. And we intend to hold these individuals fully accountable. We pray for a speedy recovery for Officer Brown, and our thoughts and prayers are with him today.”
Bell also said community tensions need to be calmed to prevent further violence.
A few people gathered outside the police department after Saturday’s media briefing and disputed Doyle’s depiction of events.
Angelique Kidd said she didn’t believe police followed protocol when trying to break up the crowd, particularly because officers did not tell the crowd to disperse before arresting people.
“So at any point that it had become an unlawful assembly in which they needed to come in and rush the crowd to affect arrests, then they should have made a public announcement,” Kidd said.
“And there are rules set in writing that that’s what they should have done, and that’s what I just want to make sure gets out there.”
When asked for more detail during the briefing, Doyle said the events were still under investigation.
Later, Washington, the agency’s spokesperson, said the department hadn’t been trying to disband the gathering. She said officers went there to arrest the people suspected of damaging property but were going to allow the peaceful protest to continue.
Namratha Prasad of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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