A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer was seriously injured outside the city’s police station during protests marking the 10th anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown, police said Saturday.
Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle said Officer Travis Brown suffered a severe brain injury after being knocked to the ground on Friday. “He is currently battling for his life at an area hospital,” Doyle said.
Two other officers were also injured, one with a wounded ankle and the other with abrasions, and both were treated at the scene.
Officers made arrests Friday on charges of vandalism at a police station where protesters had gathered to commemorate Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old killed by white officer Darren Wilson in 2014, a key moment in the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement.
One of the suspects was charged Saturday with assault on a special victim, resisting arrest and criminal damage to property and ordered held on $500,000 cash-only bail.
Doyle said protesters had been peaceful for much of the night, and police allowed them to block the road in front of the station and placed patrol cars on either side to prevent protesters from being run over by vehicles.
Police did not intervene when protesters began shaking down the fence outside the station, but when protesters broke down part of the fence, police sent in arrest teams, Doyle said. The suspect lunged at Travis Brown, knocking him backwards with his shoulder, and an officer struck him in the head as he fell to the ground, Doyle said.
According to court documents, the suspect continued running and kicked two officers who were attempting to arrest him, leaving them with scratches and bruises.
Doyle said Travis Brown, who is Black, joined the department in January and previously worked for the St. Louis County Police Department.
He is part of a wave of Black officers hired by the police department since 2014. At the time, there were only three Black officers in the department, but now Black officers make up more than half of the force, Doyle said.
“He wanted to be a part of change,” Doyle said. “He wanted to make an impact in our community. He’s the type of officer we want in our community. And what happened? He got assaulted. I had to look his mother in the eye and tell her what happened to her son. I’ll never do that again. I promise you that.”
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, who visited the hospital to meet with the officer’s family, said other suspects also will be charged.
“I always say the hardest part of this job is when we can’t bring justice to a family who’s lost a loved one. And I have to change that. The hardest thing I’ve had to do is talk to and comfort a mother who doesn’t know if her child is doing well. And for what?”
It was unclear who organized Friday’s protest. Activists who attended a memorial for Michael Brown earlier in the day and those who organized earlier protests did not immediately respond to calls and text messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The death of Michael Brown has made Ferguson the focal point of a national reckoning on the historically tense relationship between U.S. law enforcement and black people.
A 2015 U.S. Department of Justice investigation also found no basis to charge Wilson, but the report harshly criticized the police and raised serious concerns about the way officers treated black residents and the court system that created a cycle of debt for many residents.
