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New autopsy of Ferguson victim

August 17, 2014

The US attorney general has called for a federal autopsy of the body of Michael Brown. Eric Holder’s request comes after another long night during which riot police quelled protests with heavy weapons and armored cars.

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Ferguson, USA
Image: Reuters

On Sunday, US Attorney General Eric Holder ordered a federal medical examiner to perform an autopsy in addition to one conducted by the state of Missouri. The parents of 18-year-old Mike Brown also plan to have a pathologist conduct an independent examination of the body, a spokesman for the family said.

Holder called for the federal autopsy "due to the extraordinary circumstances involved in this case and at the request of the Brown family," Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon said on Sunday.

The request follows protests triggered by the shooting of the 18-year-old Brown by a white police officer on August 9. Witnesses say the teenager had his hands in the air when he was shot a number of times.

'People and property'

On Sunday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told the US news channel CNN that the midnight-5 a.m. curfew he imposed on Saturday had helped "to protect the people and property of Ferguson" after looters raided a few stores and clashed with police overnight Friday. Law enforcement had used tear gas and rubber bullets to deter the small group of looters, some of whom threw Molotov cocktails and bricks at police.

During the first hours of the curfew, authorities reported seven arrests and at least one person shot. They cannot yet say by whom, though they claim it was not by police. Asked Sunday on the CNN program "State of the Union" how long his overnight lock-in would continue, Nixon said he would make that decision "judged by the community."

After relative calm on Thursday, unrest in Ferguson flared anew on Friday, when the local police released a video showing the alleged participation by Brown in a convenience store robbery shortly before the fatal shooting. Police have said the officer who shot Brown had no idea that he had come from the store. Nixon has slammed the decision to release the video.

"I think it had an incendiary effect," he said Sunday on the CBS news program "Face the Nation," adding that police "clearly are attempting to besmirch a victim of a shooting."

mkg/kms (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)