The Washington Post is reporting that Officer Darren Wilson, the cop who shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO worked for another police department before going to work in Ferguson three years ago. From the Washington Post:
The small city of Jennings, Mo., had a police department so troubled, and with so much tension between white officers and black residents, that the city council finally decided to disband it. Everyone in the Jennings police department was fired. New officers were brought in to create a credible department from scratch.
Guess what? Darren Wilson was one of those officers. Some of the officers reapplied for their old jobs, but Wilson himself took a position in Ferguson.
Jennings, like Ferguson, was made up of mostly white police officers serving a primarily black community. With only 14,000 residents in the city, a whopping 89 percent of those residents are black. City Council member Rodney Epps explained in an August 23 interview.
?You’re dealing with white cops, and they don’t know how to address black people. he straw that broke the camel’s back, an officer shot at a female. She was stopped for a traffic violation. She had a child in the back [of the] car and was probably worried about getting locked up. And this officer chased her down Highway 70, past city limits, and took a shot at her. Just ridiculous.”
Lawsuits alleging unnecessary force by officers included accusations of attacking residents without case and beating them. One woman won her lawsuit and was paid a confidential settlement.
One black resident, Cassandra Fuller, sued the department claiming a white Jennings police officer beat her in June 2009 on her own porch after she made a joke. A car had smashed into her van, which was parked in front of her home, and she called police. The responding officer asked her to move the van. ?It don’t run. You can take it home with you if you want,? she answered. She said the officer became enraged, threw her off the porch, knocked her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach.
?It’s like a horror story in my mind. I never thought a police officer would pull me off my porch and beat me to the ground, for just laughing,? Fuller said in an interview.
There was also money fraud inside of the department.
Lt. Jeff Fuestang was appointed to run the new police force. He described the conditions in Jennings that were present at the time that Darren Wilson was fired.
?There was a disconnect between the community and the police department. There were just too many instances of police tactics which put the credibility of the police department in jeopardy. Complaints against officers. There was a communication breakdown between the police and the community. There were allegations involving use of force that raised questions.?
Fuegstang said that Wilson was an “average officer” who “didn’t go above and beyond, and didn’t get in any trouble.”
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Tiffany Willis is the founder and editor-in-chief of Liberal America. An unapologetic member of the Christian Left, she has spent most of her career actively working with ?the least of these? and disadvantaged and oppressed populations. She’s passionate about their struggles. To stay on top of topics she discusses,?like her?Facebook page,?follow her on Twitter, or?connect with her via LinkedIn. She also has?a?grossly neglected personal blog?and a?literary quotes blog that is a labor of love. Find her somewhere and join the discussion.
h/t Addicting Info
