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The parents of Michael Brown Jr. hit the morning shows on Wednesday to discuss the grand jury’s decision to not indict officer Darren Wilson, and the violent aftermath in Ferguson.
Read more Darren Wilson Hints He’s Leaving Ferguson Police Force in ABC News Interview
“Our son is gone and we’re dealing with it, but there are other families that went through the same situation, and we all just want change. … We’ve just been disrespected all around,” said father Michael Brown Sr. while on CBS This Morning.
In response to Wilson’s account of the events, mother Lesley McSpadden said, her son “would never provoke anyone to do anything to him, and he wouldn’t do anything to anybody — I don’t believe a word of it.” Their attorney Benjamin Crump also highlighted how Wilson was never cross-examined, and Brown Sr. mentioned how Wilson is known for falsifying reports.
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“If something did happen in that store — and that’s a big if — that could’ve been dealt with, but you didn’t have to do what you did. He didn’t do what he had to do, he did what he wanted to do,” McSpadden said of Wilson. “I don’t think he wanted to kill my son, but he wanted to kill someone. … And how could your conscience be clear, even if it was an accidental death?”
McSpadden also said she does not regret standing among the protestors in Ferguson on Monday night, despite the violent and unlawful actions of some of those present, and added that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who has never offered her family his condolences, “put it out there and infuriated those people. From day one, on Aug. 9, … voices were heard about if there weren’t an indictment, how they would react. … We continued to ask for calm and protest in a peaceful manner. … We can’t be held accountable for anybody’s other actions if it’s not our actions, and that’s not what we asked for.”
Read more L.A.’s Ferguson Protestors Swarm Downtown
Watch the interview in the video below.
On Today, Brown Sr. noted they’re hoping for a conviction for Wilson in federal court — “We’re just going to keep fighting and pray for a better outcome,” he said — and explained that they’re also pushing for a law requiring police officers to wear body cameras across the country, and asking supporters to “not just make noise, let’s make a difference.”
In response to Wilson’s description of the unarmed teen as a “demon,” McSpadden called it “insult after injury” and “so disrespectful.” Though Brown Sr. hasn’t watched Wilson’s ABC News interview yet, he plans to, and said of the officer’s account of the events that led to the death of Michael Brown, “For one, my son, he respected law enforcement. … Two, who in their right mind would rush or charge at a police officer that has his gun drawn? It sounds crazy.”
Read more Ferguson Grand Jury Decision Sparks Outrage: Hollywood Reacts
“When you have people of color be killed, they try to demonize and play on the stereotypes, and they try to put the police officer who killed our children on a pedestal,” Crump added. “It’s just not right, and we have to fix this system.”
While Brown Sr. was seen in video footage as encouraging the violent protestors on Monday night, McSpadden defended him, saying “He was just emotional. I don’t think he was stirring the crowd, the crowd was already stirred” by Nixon, she repeated.
Crump added, “No one is condoning violence. You lose your child in this manner, and someone put a video camera on you in raw emotion, who knows what you would do if this was your child laying on the ground for four hours, and you find out that the killer isn’t gonna be brought to trial?”
Watch the interview in the video below.
Email: Ashley.Lee@THR.com
Twitter: @cashleelee
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