Police in Ferguson, Missouri, on Tuesday released body camera and surveillance videos of a man shown charging at a police officer and knocking him to the pavement, where he hit his head and was critically injured.
The incident occurred Friday night during demonstrations marking the 10th anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, which was among the high-profile national cases that sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, police Chief Troy Doyle said footage shows the suspect, 28-year-old Elijah Gantt, of East St. Louis, Illinois, charging at officer Travis Brown, who, along with other officers, was going to confront and arrest protesters who broke parts of a fence near the police station.
Officer Brown suffered a severe head injury after being knocked to the ground, police said.
It was unclear Tuesday night whether Gantt had retained an attorney. A phone call to the local public defender’s office was not immediately returned.
Protesters had gathered near the police station to remember Michael Brown, the unarmed Black 18-year-old who was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, a decade ago. More than a week of protests and civil unrest followed the teen’s death.
Video played at Tuesday’s media briefing from two different angles showed a man with a running start flattening officer Brown, whose head violently struck the pavement.
“If you look at the video, the officer is standing there waiting to try to catch this guy. It wasn’t a collision. He’s standing there. This guy tackled my guy like he’s a football player. It was … ridiculous,” Doyle said.
Brown was unconscious and on his back, police said, with the man lying on Brown’s chest as other officers quickly arrived and jumped on the suspect.
“If you haven’t condemned this act or condemned what happened to my officer, then you are part of the problem,” the police chief said.
During an earlier press conference after the officer was injured, Doyle said the community has treated Ferguson police as a “punching bag” since 2014.
He said the department has met activists’ demands, including providing body cameras for officers and implicit bias and crisis-intervention training. Doyle also noted that the officer involved in Michael Brown’s death no longer works for the department.
Doyle said Brown is the type of officer Ferguson needs.
“He wanted to be part of the change,” Doyle said. “He wanted to make an impact in our community. He’s the type of officer that we want in our community. And what happens? He gets assaulted.”
Gantt, who was already charged with assault, was also charged with fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor, for allegedly kicking another officer in the head, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell said.
Another defendant was charged with property damage for damaging the fence, Bell said. Others were charged with various crimes, including resisting arrest, assault and property damage.