Following the 10th anniversary of the 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last Friday with planned protests, the Ferguson Police Department released body-worn camera video and surveillance footage on Tuesday showing a protester knocking down and severely injuring a Black police officer.
At Tuesday’s news conference, Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell joined Police Chief Troy Doyle to share the videos with the public. The video shows the suspect 28-year-old Elijah Gantt of East St. Louis, Illinois, knocking down Officer Travis Brown on a sidewalk outside the Ferguson police station, leaving him with a life-threatening brain injury.
The confrontation on August 9 occurred after peaceful protests began to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Brown, an 18-year-old Black man who was shot by a police officer in 2014, as the department blocked off parts of the street earlier in the day so people could demonstrate and march. Travis Brown is not related to Michael Brown.
However, throughout the night, the peaceful protest became agitated as individuals began shaking a police station security gate.
In security footage released Tuesday, police said Gantt, the man charged with causing Officer Brown’s brain injury, can be seen with a bullhorn leading people to shake the gate and getting involved himself.
In addition, the video shows that a man, identified by Doyle as Gantt, had a running start and knocked the officer over, whose head violently struck the pavement. The impact left Officer Brown unconscious, lying prone on the sidewalk, as fellow officers quickly subdued the suspect.
According to the Associated Press, police said Officer Brown remains in critical condition.
Newsweek has reached out to the Ferguson Police Department via email for comment.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Doyle condemned Gantt’s actions as he called for accountability.
“If you haven’t condemned this act, if you haven’t condemned what happened to my officer, then you are part of the problem,” Doyle said.
Gantt now faces additional charges, including assault of a special victim and resisting arrest, the AP reported.
The incident follows heightened tensions in Ferguson, a city that became a flashpoint for the national Black Lives Matter movement following the 2014 killing of Brown by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson.
Wilson shot Brown at least six times, according to an official autopsy as his death sparked weeks of protests and unrest in Ferguson. In response to the outrage of Brown’s death, significant reforms within the Ferguson Police Department, including a mandate for body-worn cameras and enhanced anti-bias training along with a more diverse force—22 of the 41 current officers are Black, compared to just three out of 50 in 2014.
Officer Brown, 36, joined the St. Louis County Police Department in 2012 and was dispatched to Ferguson during the 2014 protests. He joined the Ferguson Police Department in January 2024.
In addition, according to the AP, the incident reignited discussions about the progress made in Ferguson since 2014, with many community members and officials urging the public to recognize the reforms within the police department.
Mayor Jones emphasized that the city remains committed to moving forward. “Ferguson has made a lot of strides, and this one act is not going to stop us,” she said.
A prayer vigil for Officer Brown was announced for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday outside the Ferguson Police Department.
Meanwhile, Brown’s death continues to be felt across the community and country as the death of George Floyd in 2020 reiterated concerns about police brutality. Floyd was a Black man who died at the hands of white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
Floyd’s death reignited the Black Lives Movement with a new fervor, and it brought Brown’s death—and many others who were killed by police—back to light.
