Wednesday, November 26

Ferguson riot: Shocking footage shows car ploughing into protesters and dragging woman under its wheel

Car plows through crowd in Minneapolis as Ferguson-inspired protests break out across the U.S 
  Rally: The car can be seen from above with protesters on its bonnet

This shocking footage shows a car ploughing through protesters during a rallying against the decision not to charge a cop over the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown.

People can be seen being bounced off the bonnet of the car which blares its horn a it tries to force a way through the crowd.
One woman was run over and dragged about 20ft along the street during the incident in South Minneapolis. She was taken to hospital.
The driver was questioned by police, the Star Tribune reports.The rally was one of many held in cities across the US following a grand jury's decision on Monday that white policeman Darren Wilson should not be indicted for Michael's shooting in Ferguson, Missouri in August.

There have been violent riots across America for the past two nights.
Insurers in Ferguson, a city in St Louis County, believe that £19million is already needed to fix the damage from the first night of violence.
Heavily-armed cops in the city of Ferguson, Missouri, fired tear gas as a mob attacked them with bottles, bricks and a Molotov cocktail.

Gangs trashed police cars, setting some on fire. Buildings were torched and stores were looted.
Meanwhile, Ferguson Wilson said he is not tormented with guilt at the shooting.

 “I don’t think it’s haunting,” he said in his first interview. “It’s always going to be something that happened. The reason I have a clean conscience that is that I did my job right.”
Wilson told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he was sorry for the loss of life but that his conscience is clear because he was simply doing his job.

The tragic event began when he stopped 18-year-old Brown about halfway into a 12-hour shift on August 9, after he saw the teenager holding cigarillos that had just
been reported stolen from a nearby shop.

Wilson says initially he tried to talk to Brown from inside his police vehicle, but the teen swore and then lunged at him. Brown landed two punches to his face, Wilson testified, adding that he feared a third could have been deadly.

Wilson said: "He threw the first punch. I don't know what or how many hit me after that I just know there was a barrage of swinging grabbing and pulling for about 10 seconds.
"It was like a five-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan, that's how big he was. He was a very large powerful man."

Wilson, who is about 6ft 4ins tall and weighs 95kg, said he struggled with Brown,
who was similarly tall but heavier at 130kg, from inside his police car.
With no taser in the vehicle, Wilson considered using mace or a flashlight in defense, but the five-year police veteran said he felt neither would be effective.

He drew his gun, which Brown had grabbed and twisted until it dug into Wilson's hip, the officer testified.
Wilson said he fired a shot from inside the vehicle, shattering the window. It was the first time he had fired his weapon at someone on duty, he said.

According to Wilson's testimony, Brown stepped back, then lunged again. Wilson fired again and Brown began to run. Wilson exited the car and chased him.
Wilson told ABC: "My job isn't just to sit and wait. After he's coming at me and I decide to shoot, I shoot a series of shots. After that I paused. He just kept running. I shot another series of shots. He's 15ft away and he's still not stopping.

"He leans forward to tackle me, I see his head and that's where it went."
Asked if Brown was white whether events would have gone down the same away, the officer said yes.
Brown's family and supporters have maintained a different version of events, saying the unarmed teenager was the victim of an officer who aggressively confronted their son and then shot him while his hands were raised in a sign of surrender.

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