Protesters threaten a news reporter and then tossed water at him as he was covering the protests in St. Louis over former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley, who was charged with the 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith and was found not guilty on Friday.
FOX 2 St. Louis reporter, Dan Gray was hit by three water bottles, one in the back of the head and two in the shirt. They were angry, in his face and yelling the entire time just because he was doing his job as a reporter.
“I understand their frustration I understand their anger,” said Dan Gray. “Perhaps they needed someone to vent it to.”
One protester had been taunting the reporter and photographer all day. He was complaining about the media. The man told Dan Gray that he has been covering crime in St. Louis for over 30 years. He had been covering black on black crime for decades and, “didn’t do anything.”
That is when the crowd turned on the journalists. He was surrounded by the crowd and that is when a group swooped in to protect them. They walked the two to a safe place on Market Street. The crown began to diminish as they walked away.
“We are OK. We are fine,” said Dan Gray.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in St. Louis Friday after a judge found former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley not guilty during a bench trial Friday, absent a jury at the request of Stockley.
The Constitution guarantees the right of criminal suspects to have their cases heard “by an impartial jury.” But defendants can also opt to have the verdict rendered by a judge.
Protests in St. Louis turned violent as darkness set in Friday, with at least four cops assaulted and numerous demonstrators maced following the acquittal of a white officer in the shooting death of an African-American drug suspect.
The St. Louis Police Department tweeted Friday evening that the protests were “no longer considered peaceful,” as protesters threw bottles at officers, smashed police vehicle windshields, largely ignored officers’ requests to clear a roadway – ultimately leaving at least four cops with minor injuries.
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