ST LOUIS, MO, August 24 (RIA Novosti) – The public should hold off the accusations of the police officer, who fatally shot an unarmed African-American teen in Ferguson, Missouri, until the jurors inquiring into the case annouce their verdict, an activist at a pro-police rally in St Louis told RIA Novosti Saturday.
“Only the grand jury is privy to the real information, the witnesses and videos. We aren’t. Don’t convict somebody till they’re proven guilty – you wouldn’t want that for anybody, Michael Brown or everybody else,” said Ferguson-native Dee Magee, a social worker.
“I’m a huge believer in equal justice. It’s important that everybody has a chance at fair justice, and I think there has been some really poor journalism in this case that has incited the violence we’ve seen and revealed sensitive information about the officer,” she said.
The supporters of Darren Wilson, 28, the white policeman, who killed an unarmed African-American teen and sparked a wave of protests, rallied in St Louis on Saturday, as online donations for the law enforcement officer topped $300,000.
Ferguson, a mostly African-American suburb of St Louis with some 21,000 residents, has been shaken by often violent protests since Wilson shot and killed Mike Brown, an unarmed teen, as he walked with a friend on a leafy backstreet on the afternoon of August 9.
A grand jury of three African-American and nine white members began hearing the evidence on the shooting on Wednesday and is expected to decide whether to charge Wilson by mid-October. The inquiry hinges on whether Wilson fired in self-defense.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon withdrew National Guard troops on Thursday as protests calmed in recent nights. Police have been criticized for using military tactics, toting assault rifles and using tear gas, rubber bullets and other heavy-handed measures.
