Ferguson: Supporters of officer Darren Wilson make voices heard
Very few Americans are confident that Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson was justified in shooting black teen Mike Brown, according to聽a recent New York Times/CBS News poll.
But that hasn鈥檛 stopped supporters of the policeman from donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to Mr. Wilson and showing mass support for the officer in several conspicuous ways.
罢丑别听, released Thursday, reports that just 9 percent of Americans believe the actions of Wilson were justified, while 25 percent say they were unjustified. The vast majority 鈥� 64 percent 鈥� say they don鈥檛 have enough information to decide.
Some of those 9 percent, however, had donated more than $225,000 to the policeman and his family on the crowd-funding website聽聽as of midday Friday. The fund, which opened Monday, has attracted more than 5,600 donors, the majority giving between $10 and $20.
鈥淭his page has been created to support Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department,鈥澛爎eads a message on the page. 鈥淲e stand behind Officer Darren Wilson during this trying time in their lives. All proceeds will be sent to Darren Wilson and his family for any financial needs they may have including legal fees.鈥�
At least six new Facebook pages have also been started in support of the officer. Combined, they claim nearly 200,000 supporters.
One聽page titled had more than 58,000 鈥渓ikes鈥� as of noon Friday. It was founded by the wife of another police officer in Missouri and includes a poem with the lines:
Our Voice is heard and here we stand,
To stay the course behind this man,...
鈥淚 put myself into that family鈥檚 shoes,鈥澛爐he founder of the Facebook page, who didn't want to be named, . "I would want to know that not everybody hated me for doing my job.鈥�
Sympathizers with the officer across Missouri also have begun to leave on blue lights outside their homes in solidarity with Wilson 鈥� depleting at least one local Wal-Mart of its supply of blue lanterns.
The blue lights have also been reported as far away as Florida, Michigan, and California 鈥� even Kuwait.
Earlier this week, a few dozen demonstrators gathered outside KSDK-TV in downtown St. Louis to express their support for the officer and protest against the allegedly slanted coverage of the Brown shooting by the local television station.
According to reports from the scene, the demonstrators had little sympathy for the Brown family 鈥� or for those who allege that policing in Ferguson is marred by racial discrimination.
鈥淚f you do what the police tell you to 鈥� if you鈥檙e not doing anything wrong and the cops ask you to do something, then you鈥檙e not going to have anything to worry about,鈥� Michael Bates .
鈥淗e was doing his job,鈥澛燢aycee Reinisch . 鈥淎nd now because of public uproar in Ferguson, he is being victimized.鈥�
At the downtown St. Louis gathering, the pro-Wilson demonstrators sold out of T-shirts in support of the policeman at $7 each.
These demonstrators have drawn fire from several critics 鈥� especially because the parallel聽 to support Mr. Brown鈥檚 family has raised only $158,000.
The GoFundMe.com page for Wilson has been littered with racist comments. Though the website has been racing to take the comments down, Twitter users have been taking screen shots of them before site administrators remove them.
鈥淓verything about this is pretty ... terrible,鈥澛�.
Grand jury deliberations on the shooting of Brown 鈥� which could last weeks 鈥� began on Wednesday at the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton, Mo.
While witnesses of the Aug. 9 altercation say Wilson shot Brown while the suspect had his hands up in surrender, Ferguson police and friends of Wilson say Brown attempted to take the officer鈥檚 gun before charging the policeman.
According to autopsies conducted by the county and a medical examiner hired by Brown鈥檚 family, the teen was shot at least six times.
鈥�聽This report includes material from The Associated Press.
