The Ferguson Police Department has been criticized by some for the release of a video and incident reports showing Michael Brown was a suspect in a strong-armed robbery that happened about 10 minutes before he was fatally shot by a Ferguson police officer.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon appears on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley. (screencap courtesy; CNN)
Governor Jay Nixon (D) said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, he wasn’t happy about that release either.
“To attempt to, in essence, disparage the character of this victim in the middle of a process like this is not right. It’s just not right,” Nixon told host Andrea Mitchell. “Secondarily it did put the community and, quite frankly, the region and the nation on alert again.”
Nixon also expressed disagreement with the timing of the releases.
“We thought that it was not the right way to handle the victim’s family, which I had a chance to speak with. They were deeply troubled,” says Nixon.
A common question was why, after a week, more is not known about what happened when Brown was shot. On CNN’s State of the Union, Nixon says two investigations are ongoing.
“I talked just the other day to … had a long talk with (U.S. Attorney General Eric) Holder. Based on that they put 40 FBI agents working in St. Louis yesterday, in this region yesterday, to accelerate that process for that parallel investigation,” Nixon said. “I think it’s the time for the local prosecutor to have the opportunity to step up. I know everybody’s working really hard. It’s important that we get this right.”
Nixon had declared on Saturday a state of emergency and authorized the Highway Patrol to institute a curfew. Early Monday morning he issued an executive order calling out the National Guard to Ferguson after renewed violence his office called “coordinated.”