Ferguson Police Officer Let Dog Urinate on Michael Brown Memorial On The Day He Was Killed

Several hours after Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, a police dog handler let his dog urinate on a memorial which had been created on the street where the unarmed teenager fell, according to Mother Jones. The police also crushed the flowers Michael Brown’s mother left on the spot where her son was killed.

[su_center_ad]The incident was related to me separately by three state and local officials who worked with the community in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. One confirmed that he interviewed an eyewitness, a young woman, and pressed her on what exactly she saw. “She said that the officer just let the dog pee on it,” that official told me. “She was very distraught about it.” The identity of the officer who handled the dog and the agency he was with remain unclear.

The day brought other indignities for Brown’s family, and the community. Missouri state Rep. Sharon Pace, whose district includes the neighborhood where the shooting occurred, told me she went to the scene that afternoon to comfort the parents, who were blocked by police from approaching their son’s body. Pace purchased some tea lights for the family, and around 7 p.m. she joined Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, and others as they placed the candles and sprinkled flowers on the ground where Brown had died. “They spelled out his initials with rose petals over the bloodstains,” Pace recalled.

By then, police had prohibited all vehicles from entering Canfield Drive except for their own. Soon the candles and flowers had been smashed, after police drove over them.

“That made people in the crowd mad,” Pace said, “and it made me mad.” Some residents began walking in front of police vehicles at the end of the block to prevent them from driving in.

Police cars trampled the rose petals and candles at the memorial for #MikeBrown. pic.twitter.com/nb2fQSrkMX

— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 10, 2014

A spokesperson for the St. Louis County Police told Mother Jones that the department was unaware of these incidents.

They’ve brought the dogs out in #Ferguson https://t.co/gXQeLtaXjt — Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 10, 2014

H/T: RJ Carter and @TomCInmidlife with thanks.[su_sky_ad]

Via: Slate

Image: AP

Featured Image: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

D.B. Hirsch

D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.