The widow of former St. Louis police Capt. David Dorn, who was killed during the 2020 Missouri unrest, has spoken out after local police released new body camera footage that showed protesters brutally beating a Ferguson police officer over the weekend.
Ann Dorn, a former St. Louis Police Sergeant and Dorn’s widow, said people have the right to protest, but there need to be dire consequences if it escalates into violence.
“It’s fine if people start protesting, but when it becomes violent they need to be treated as terrorists or charged with rioting, not just assault and damage to property. There are rioting charges and they need to be dealt with accordingly,” Dorn said.
Captain Dorn was shot and killed by looters while trying to defend his store in June 2020 in the aftermath of nationwide riots following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
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Ann Dorn, widow of former St. Louis Police Inspector Dave Dorn, shared her reaction to new police footage released showing an officer being beaten during protests in Ferguson. (Ferguson Police Department)
On Friday, Ferguson Police Officer Travis Brown was attacked by protesters during a protest, knocked to the ground and beaten to the point, leaving him with a brain injury.
Protests and confrontations erupted outside the police station on the evening of August 9.
City officials closed parts of the roads earlier in the day to allow people to demonstrate and march to mark the 10th anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown Jr., which is part of a nationwide push for police reform and helped propel the Black Lives Matter movement.
But as the night went on the protests became more violent.
“Protesting is a First Amendment right, so the penalties for that will be severe. You can protest, but when you cross into violence, that’s not allowed,” Dorn said.
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New video has emerged showing the moment a Ferguson police officer was violently taken down and seriously injured by a suspect during Friday’s Michael Brown protest. (Ferguson Police Department)
At a press conference on Tuesday, Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, along with Police Chief Troy Doyle, released new video of Officer Brown’s assault to the public. They also announced the new charges and continued to express support for Officer Brown and his family.
The new footage shows Elijah M. Gant, the man accused of inflicting brain damage on Officer Brown, leading a group of people with a bullhorn to shake the gates of the police station.
Gant is seen charging at Officer Brown, knocking him to the ground on the sidewalk.
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Anna Dawn speaks about her husband, David, who was killed during the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots. (Fox News Digital)
Brown, 36, joined the St. Louis County Police Department in 2012 and was deployed to Ferguson during the protests in 2014. According to Fox 2, Brown joined the Ferguson Police Department in January 2024.
Judge Bell announced a new charge of fourth-degree assault against Gant, who is being held on $500,000 bail for allegedly kicking another officer in the head during the arrest.
“We respect everyone’s First Amendment rights. You have the right to peacefully protest, but if you cross the line into harming people who are damaging property, you will be held accountable,” Bell said.
“If you don’t condemn this behavior, if you don’t condemn what happened to my officers, you’re part of the problem.” — St. Louis Police Chief Troy Doyle
Dorn added that while officers are trained to deal with escalated situations, they are not prepared for someone looking to carry out “terrorist, violent acts”.
“We will kill anyone who tries to kill an officer. We will hurt anyone who tries to hurt an officer,” she explained, “Because we are known to fight back. We are known to shoot back. If you shoot at us, we are trained to shoot back. If you fight us, we are trained to fight back. So if you take that risk, you run the risk of serious harm. And if you do that with us, you won’t just be with us.”
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey also responded to Fox News Digital.
“What happened in Ferguson this past weekend was abhorrent and those who target our service members must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Bailey said. “I will always stand with our service members.”
The Minnesota riots continued even after Walz took “responsibility” to stop chaos from happening.
Dawn said it was heartbreaking to see the Brown family go through what she and her family went through four years ago, and it reminded her of how difficult it was for her own family as well.
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“I guess I let my guard down a little bit because Dave was already retired when he was killed. This should never have happened. There should never have been another knock on that door. He was retired so I let my guard down,” Dorn said.
“After that, I was mentally and physically unable to go back to work. After that, I couldn’t be a police officer because I didn’t know how I would react. That was another heartbreak for me because I loved my job. When I left the police department, I felt like I was abandoning a lot of people, but I knew I couldn’t help them. And I couldn’t do the job I was doing anymore.”
Dorn added that Chief Doyle and his department have done a great job supporting the Brown family and he prays they get through this and that Officer Brown has a speedy recovery.
