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Tearful Ex-Ferguson Mayor: 'Please Help Us'
Tuesday, November 25, 2014 04:10 PM
By: Sean Piccoli
A former mayor of riot-torn Ferguson, Missouri, wept on Tuesday as he talked about the "disaster" of his city going up in flames again, after a grand jury's decision in the Michael Brown shooting case, and he ended an emotional interview with Newsmax TV by saying simply, "Please help us."
Brian P. Fletcher, ex-mayor and current chairman of the "I Love Ferguson Committee," also accused Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon of failing to assign National Guardsmen to prevent the burning and looting of dozens of Ferguson businesses and storefronts on Monday night.
"He indicated he'd have the National Guard," said Fletcher. "We never saw the National Guard. I have not seen the National Guard even yet. Although it was deployed in St. Louis city itself, it was not deployed in Ferguson, where the unrest had started and continued … for these past three months."
Grand jurors on Monday declined to indict the white Ferguson, Mo., police officer, Darren Wilson, who shot the unarmed Brown, 18, on Aug. 9 in what protestors called another instance of systematic police brutality against young black men.
Grand jurors concluded the evidence did not support a criminal indictment of Wilson.
The announcement was followed by nighttime chaos in Ferguson's streets, which Fletcher said Gov. Nixon was "ill-prepared to handle," despite having declared a state of emergency beforehand.
"It was a disaster, quite frankly," said Fletcher, who appeared on "MidPoint" five days ago expressing hope that Ferguson might recover some semblance of normalcy after a summer of unrest.
Fletcher, a self-described "lifetime Democrat," called on the Democratic governor to resign.
"He is an embarrassment to our state and to our city and should not be allowed to maintain the office of the highest position in our state," said Fletcher.
He said local law enforcement did as good a job as it could have under the circumstances, but was "ignored by the governor" despite asking for more help.
"We were definitely thrown under the bus," he said. "We apparently were expendable. I do not know or I do not understand, because [Gov. Nixon] promised our mayor and our elected officials that he would have protection here. It would have taken maybe 200 National Guard [troops] to seal the city off, and this all would have been prevented because vehicles would not have been able to enter the community."
Fletcher also blasted the timing of the grand jury decision announcement.
"To announce it under the cover of darkness was about as stupid as you could possibly get," he said. "Anyone with intelligence would understand that."
Fletcher said that living through the tension and destruction of the last three months has reduced him to tears.
"I cried several times, not just once," as he watched protests turn violent on Monday, he said. "I've done it over the last few months and I've done it again today."
"It is so hard," he said, his voice breaking. "Please help us."
