People want a St. Louis alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to quit his job on a police oversight board because he was arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, on Friday during a protest where a police officer was hit and is now fighting for his life.
According to Fox 2, Keith Rose, a member of the City of St. Louis’ Civilian Oversight Board that looks into claims of police wrongdoing, is accused of kicking in part of a metal gate outside the Ferguson Police Department during the protest. He has been charged with first-degree property damage.
Police put out a video of Rose in front of the black gate on Friday with a group of protesters who are trying to break it down. One of the people at the gate was 28-year-old Elijah Gantt. Soon after, he knocked over Ferguson Police Officer Travis Brown as Brown tried to arrest him. Brown got serious brain damage when he hit his head on the ground. In more film from Friday, Gantt could be seen with a bullhorn in front of the police gate, making fun of the protesters as they shook the gate.
Now, three people on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen have asked Rose to step down from the oversight board because he was arrested. This comes after the Missouri Democratic Party said Rose would freely withdraw as an uncommitted alternate delegate to the DNC.
The three aldermen wrote in a letter to KSDK, “Because of the charges brought against Mr. Rose in this matter, we no longer feel that Mr. Rose can be seen as neutral and unbiased when it comes to overseeing the St. Louis City Police Department.”
The news source says that three other Aldermen said they stood by Rose and wanted the law to be followed.
However, Rose’s lawyer, Javad Khazaeli, told the outlet that Rose has since stepped away from all board duties except for training. Rose calls himself an LGBT political paralegal on his LinkedIn page.
In a statement to Fox 2, Khazaeli said the charge was false and that shots of the damage to the fence did not show Rose was involved.
It’s not clear to us why he was charged, Khazaeli said in the statement.
In a statement, the Missouri Democratic Party said it was against the violence that seriously hurt Brown and sent its condolences to his family.
“The right to peacefully gather is an important part of our democracy, but violence is never okay.” Within his own free will, Keith Rose has chosen to step down as an uncommitted alternate member to the DNC, according to a group statement.
New, disturbing videos, shot from two different angles, seem to show Officer Brown being hit by Gantt on the sidewalk outside of a police station during protests on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.
The new video, which was shown at a news conference on Tuesday and was taken from CCTV and the bodycam of another police officer, shows that Gantt was on the move when he ran over Officer Brown, hitting his head hard on the ground. Another cop quickly arrived and jumped on the suspect while cop Brown, who is black, was out of it and lying on his back with the suspect on his chest.
He is still in very bad shape, and last night there was a gathering for him. His family said in a statement that he is a “devoted father” and a man of “strong faith.” He has twin young girls.
On Tuesday, people from the community, police, first responders, and the clergy met outside of the Ferguson Police Department.
“It’s good to see us all coming together,” Mayor Ella Jones of Ferguson told the people there, according to KSDK. There is no longer a ground zero in Ferguson. “This is where hope starts.”
cop Brown was called a “model officer” by Police Chief Troy Doyle.”He’s the kind of police officer that a community would want,” Doyle told the news source.
Two other cops were hurt on Friday as well; one hurt their ankle and the other got a cut. Both were taken care of at the spot.
The death of Michael Brown sparked huge protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and across the country. These rallies helped to strengthen the Black Lives Matter movement.
In 2015, the Department of Justice did not charge Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Michael Brown. However, they did release a very critical study that said the Ferguson police department and county courts were biased against black people.
