You know, just when I thought the news out of Ferguson couldn't get any more sad, bizarre, tragic, upsetting, disgusting, and outrageously absurd…. Just when I think there couldn't be a new low, I'm proven wrong.
From the Huffington Post:
For the past few weeks, the spot where Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson has had a steady stream of visitors and mourners, many of whom leave mementos such as flowers, stuffed animals and signs. Just blocks from West Florissant Avenue, which became known for large protests and clashes with police, this memorial site has been an area of calm and remembrance.
But even this area, after the shooting, was fraught with the tensions that have come to the forefront between the overwhelmingly white police force in the area and the city's African-American majority.
The Aug. 9 shooting of Brown, an unarmed African-American teenager, has brought national attention to the racial tensions in this St. Louis suburb, including the fact that black residents in Ferguson are disproportionately targeted in traffic stops.
This tension was on display at the memorial site on Aug. 9 after Brown's shooting. According to Mother Jones:
Soon, police vehicles reappeared, including from the St. Louis County Police Department, which had taken control of the investigation. Several officers emerged with dogs. What happened next, according to several sources, was emblematic of what has inflamed the city of Ferguson, Missouri, ever since the unarmed 18-year-old was gunned down: An officer on the street let the dog he was controlling urinate on the memorial site.
The incident was related to me separately by three state and local officials who worked with the community in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. One confirmed that he interviewed an eyewitness, a young woman, and pressed her on what exactly she saw. "She said that the officer just let the dog pee on it," that official told me. "She was very distraught about it." The identity of the officer who handled the dog and the agency he was with remain unclear.
Of course, there's no film to back this up, but as far as I'm concerned, I don't need to see a video. I don't need to see a picture. These officers have demonstrated enough contempt for the citizens there, that this doesn't seem at all out of the norm for them.
They shoot unarmed black men and set the stage so they can get away with it, they arrest reporters, hog-tie children, they toss tear gas on peaceful demonstrators, they point assault rifles at unarmed citizens and journalist while perched atop armored vehicles, they threaten to kill people, they bury the truth, help raise money for murderers, treat the dead like road kill, they…they… they're just VILE.
So yeah, a St. Louis County cop allowing his dog to piss on a dead teen's memorial is more than believable.
EDITED TO ADD:
Dear Anne Arundel County (Maryland) police union,
YOU SUCK!