FERGUSON, Mo. — Hundreds of additional National Guard troops rolled into Ferguson on Tuesday, a day after protesters filled the streets, some looting businesses and setting fire to buildings in a night of rage against a grand jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who killed Michael Brown.
Meanwhile, officer Darren Wilson broke his long public silence, insisting on national television that he could not have done anything differently in the confrontation with Brown.
After Monday’s violence, Missouri governor Jay Nixon more than tripled the number of Guard soldiers sent to the St. Louis suburb, ordering the initial force of 700 to be increased to 2,200 in hopes that their presence would help local law enforcement keep order in the St. Louis suburb.
“Lives and property must be protected,” Nixon said. “This community deserves to have peace.”
About 50 protesters converged on a barricade guarded by 30 Guard members. The group chanted “Whose streets? our streets,” “This is what democracy looks like” and “Hands up don’t shoot,” a slogan that has become a rallying cry in protests over police killings.
Other demonstrations were held across the country for a second day. Hundreds of Seattle high school students walked out of classes, and several hundred people marched down a Cleveland freeway ramp to block rush-hour traffic.
During an interview with ABC News, Wilson, 28, said he has a clean conscience: “I know I did my job right.”
Wilson had been with the Ferguson police force for less than three years before the Aug. 9 shooting. He told ABC that Brown’s shooting was the first time he had fired his gun on the job.
Attorneys for the Brown family vowed to push for federal charges against Wilson and said the grand jury process was rigged from the start to clear Wilson.
“We said from the very beginning that the decision of this grand jury was going to be the direct reflection of the presentation of the evidence by the prosecutor’s office,” attorney Anthony Gray said. He suggested the office of the county’s top prosecutor, Bob McCulloch, presented some testimony from “witnesses” who did not see the shooting.
In Monday’s protests, 12 commercial buildings in Ferguson burned down, and firefighters responded to blazes at eight others, fire officials said. Other businesses were looted, and 12 vehicles were torched.
Brown’s parents made public calls for peace in the run-up to Monday’s announcement, and on Tuesday, their representatives again stressed that the people setting fires were not on Michael Brown’s side.
Videos that circulated widely Tuesday showed Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, atop a car, breaking down as the announcement of the decision blares over the stereo.
Her husband, Brown’s stepfather, comforts her, then angrily yells, “Burn the bitch down!” to the surrounding crowd. Asked about the comment, family attorney Benjamin Crump said it was “raw emotion. Not appropriate at all. Completely inappropriate.”
Attorneys for Brown’s family said they hope an ongoing federal civil rights investigation leads to charges. But federal investigations of police misconduct require proof that an officer willfully violated civil rights.
Under federal law, “you have to prove as a prosecutor that the officer knew at the moment that he pulled the trigger that he was using too much force, that he was violating the Constitution,” said Seth Rosenthal, a former Justice Department civil rights prosecutor.
The Justice Department has also launched a broad probe into the Ferguson Police Department.
Brown’s family also could file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wilson.
Speaking in Chicago, President Barack Obama said he knows the grand jury’s decision “upset a lot of people” but that “the frustrations that we’ve seen are not just about a particular incident. They have deep roots in many communities of color who have a sense that our laws are not always being enforced uniformly or fairly.”
Wilson’s lawyers issued a statement praising the decision and saying the officer is grateful to his supporters.
