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Ferguson officer critically injured, 5 charged at protest marking 10 years since Michael Brown’s death
A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was critically injured outside the city’s police station during protests marking 10 years since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a pivotal moment in the national Black Lives Matter movement, police said Saturday.
Several people were arrested at the protest and five are facing charges, CBS News affiliate KMOV reported.
Ferguson police chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis Brown suffered a severe brain injury Friday after being knocked to the ground.
“He is in an area hospital right now fighting for his life,” Doyle said.
Two other officers also were hurt, one sustaining an ankle injury and another an abrasion. Both were treated at the scene.
The team of officers went out to make arrests Friday for the destruction of property at the police station, where protesters gathered to remember 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in 2014.
One of the suspects was charged Saturday with assault of a special victim, resisting arrest and property damage. He was ordered held on a $500,000 cash-only bond. No information was immediately listed in online court records, so it wasn’t known if he had an attorney yet.
One of the suspects, 28-year-old Elijah Gantt of East St. Louis, is charged with first-degree assault, resisting arrest, first-degree property damage and two counts of fourth-degree assault, KMOV reported. Police say Gantt was one of many who pulled on and damaged a section of fencing around the police station. Police said body camera footage showed officers ordering Gantt to stop and telling him he was being arrested.
Jim Salter / AP
Doyle said the protesters were peaceful for the majority of the night. He said police allowed them to block the street outside the station, posting a squad car on each end, so they wouldn’t be hit by vehicles.
Police also didn’t intervene when the protesters began shaking the fence outside the station. But he said that when they broke part of the fencing, he sent out the arrest team. The suspect who charged at Officer Brown knocked him backward with his shoulder, and the officer hit his head as he tumbled to the ground, Doyle said.
Court records said the suspect then kept running and kicked two officers who tried to arrest him, leaving them with scratches and bruises.
Angelique Kidd, a Ferguson resident who was at the protest, told KMOV that police didn’t call for an unlawful assembly.
“They are supposed to notify us that it is an unlawful assembly to give the rest of the people a chance to leave, which they did not do,” Kidd said. She also said police rushed the protest.
“Police came out, rushed into a crowd. Panic, it was melee,” Kidd said.
Doyle said Officer Brown, who is Black, 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.
Christian Gooden//St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP
“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, who had stopped by the hospital beforehand to meet with the officer’s family, said others also would be charged.
“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. 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?”
The Rev. Darryl Gray, a leading civil rights activist, urged the police chief to move with caution and “not to create an us versus them mentality.”
“Right now,” Gray added, “all of our efforts and energy need to be positive towards the recovery of the police officer. And then second to that, to do an investigation, a fair and unbiased investigation to determine what the evidence is.”
The arrests came as the St. Louis Fire Department placed a member of the department on leave after he made a social media post that the department described as insensitive.
“We take this matter seriously and do not condone such behavior,” the department wrote.
The department didn’t disclose the contents of the post, but several news outlets in the area reported that it read: “Happy ALIVE day to Darren Wilson!”
Michael Brown’s death turned Ferguson into a focal point of the national reckoning with the historically tense relationship between U.S. law enforcement and Black people.
In 2015, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice also found no grounds to prosecute Wilson. But the report gave a scathing indictment of the police department — raising significant concerns about how officers treated Black people and about a court system that created a cycle of debt for many.
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Former NFL player Steve Gleason gets candid about ALS journey: “This body may be a prison but my mind is free”
Steve Gleason helped lift the spirit of New Orleans with his iconic punt block during the Saints’ first home game after Hurricane Katrina in 2006 – two years before he retired from the NFL.
In 2011, the former New Orleans Saints safety was diagnosed with ALS. He believes that block, which he has called one of his proudest moments, saved his life.
“In 2006, when I blocked that punt on Monday night football, it was undoubtedly a phenomenon that was much more important than winning a football game,” Gleason said in an interview that aired Monday on “CBS Mornings.”
Creating “Team Gleason”
Shortly after his diagnosis, Gleason and his wife Michel made it their mission to help empower others with ALS and raise awareness for the disease, creating the Team Gleason Foundation. The foundation has provided over $40 million in technology, equipment and care services to people with ALS.
“So many people have told us that our foundation’s efforts and support have saved their lives. But if I didn’t block that punt, I’m just another has-been football player. It’s probably that I’d just fade away and die anonymously. I don’t see any of this happening,” Gleason said.
In a recent text conversation with his friend Brian Jeansonne, a former pastor from New Orleans who was diagnosed with ALS in 2020, Gleason was asked if he believes he’d have the same range and impact on ALS without that legendary 2006 block.
“My answer was, ‘If I don’t block the punt, I’m probably not alive,” Gleason said.
Jonathan Bachman / Getty Images
He added, “But here we are. I did block the punt…and this community, my family and friends and their love continue to uplift me throughout this crazy wonderful journey with ALS.”
Because of his heart and strength, Gleason was honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the 2024 ESPYS.
“Steve Gleason has always been determined to write his own story and live to be 109. Through it all, he has never given in, never stopped fighting, No white flags. And never stopped finding ways to inspire, impact, and write his own story,” former Saints quarterback Drew Brees said at the 2024 ESPYs when introducing Gleason.
Living with ALS
CBS Mornings
When Gleason was diagnosed with ALS, he admits he had to tackle a wide range of emotions – going from frustrated to fearful, to angry. Gleason and Michel shared candid details about their journey with ALS in a new memoir, “A Life Impossible: Living with ALS: Finding Peace and Wisdom Within a Fragile Existence,” co-written with Jeff Duncan.
“The readers will see that 13 years of living with this gnarly disease and I’m over a decade past my expiration date, so I have the wilderness of fear tattooed all over me,” Gleason said.
Through the process of losing muscle control, Gleason said he held on to the one thing he has control over: his mindset.
“This body may be a prison but my mind is free,” Gleason said.
Michel admits she’s still tackling feelings of anger and frustration.
“I have not transcended it all like Steve has. But also [I’m] able to move and talk and feel. I’m proud of him for where he is because I really can’t imagine…having to do what he does every day,” she said.
Gleason uses a special computer equipped with eye-tracking software to communicate daily. But the technology isn’t always perfect.
“His technology doesn’t always work. His eyes get tired and some days I just want to be like I just wish today we could have like a regular conversation to figure out the next week,” Michel said.
Sometimes, Michel said, it’s hard for Gleason to communicate with his 5-year-old daughter Gray and 12-year-old son Rivers.
“It’s painful to watch, because I know how much he wants to be communicating with them,” she said.
“We all have a timeline”
Gleason believes “we all have a timeline,” and he finds that concept “absolutely beautiful.”
His advice to others: live like today is the last day you’ll be able to move, talk and breathe on your own.
If you start to shift your mindset, Gleason said, your perspective will change.
“Will you be more appreciative and less concerned about achievement or material success knowing this is your last day of moving?” he asked. “When you hug your child or run your hand through their hair, knowing this is the last time, how much will you appreciate the preciousness of that moment?”
“Mic drop,” agreed Michel before giving him a “forehead to forehead” hug.
CBS Mornings
Watch David Begnaud’s full interview with Steve Gleason here.
David Begnaud loves uncovering the heart of every story and will continue to do so, highlighting everyday heroes and proving that there is good news in the news with his exclusive “CBS Mornings” series “Beg-Knows America.” Every Monday, get ready for moments that will make you smile or even shed a tear. Do you have a story about an ordinary person doing something extraordinary for someone else? Email David and his team at DearDavid@cbsnews.com
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