MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A day after a St. Louis County, Mo. grand jury decided not to indict a white Ferguson, Mo. police officer for the August shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, protests and vigils were being staged across the United States.
David Fryson, vice president for West Virginia University’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said the system did not work for Michael Brown, 18, who was shot in a Ferguson street.
“Basically, we had a trial in a grand jury,” Fryson said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
“With all these witnesses, all this testimony by the police officer (in front of a grand jury), that is really unheard of and that’s the kind of thing that really makes people kind of stand back and say, ‘Well, is this system working the same for everyone?'”
After meeting 25 times and hearing 70 hours of testimony from 60 witnesses, the St. Louis County grand jury decided there was not probable cause to indict Darren Wilson, 28, the Ferguson police officer who shot the unarmed Brown.
The grand jury, which first met in the days after Brown was shot, had considered a possible list of criminal charges ranging from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter. In the end, he will not be charged with any state crime.
Wilson’s lawyers released a statement Monday that, in part, said “Law enforcement personnel must frequently make split-second and difficult decisions. Officer Wilson followed his training and followed the law.”
On Tuesday, Fryson criticized St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch’s handling of the case. In announcing the grand jury’s decision on Monday evening, McCulloch acknowledged there was conflicting evidence. Fryson argued such conflicts are for a trial.
“Now you have a situation where you have a prosecutor who, I believe, is using the grand jury as cover, basically saying, ‘Here’s all the information. What do you guys think?'”
Fryson also criticized how the announcement about the decision was made, in the evening hours, on Monday — sparking protests in Ferguson, Mo. and across the country. “It’s almost like this becomes the cover and then the conversation is the violence, rather than the ineptitude of the prosecutor,” Fryson said.
According to national reports, more than 60 people were arrested on Monday night into Tuesday morning in the St. Louis area on charges that included arson, unlawful assembly, assault and trespassing. At least 12 buildings were burned in Ferguson and other property damage was reported in the St. Louis suburb along with surrounding areas.
Flights to St. Louis Lambert International Airport resumed Tuesday after being canceled late Monday as a precaution as shots rang out in the night.
In the hours following the announcement about the grand jury’s decision, protesters also took to the streets in other parts of the country including New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C.
Fryson said many people were angry. “I think the system itself did not work,” he said.