#Ferguson

By jia.tolentino August 12, 2014

This image from #Ferguson looks like it’s 1964 and not 2014. As much as things change, they remain the same. pic.twitter.com/LDcCHkP993

— Urban Cusp Magazine (@UrbanCusp) August 12, 2014

The news out of Ferguson, Mo. is dizzying this morning. The FBI has taken over the investigation into the death of Mike Brown; the police story (“Brown pushed the officer back into the car, then entered the vehicle as the two men struggled over the officer’s gun”) continues to sound one type of way, while the eyewitness account (“the officer slammed his brakes and threw his truck in reverse, nearly hitting them… Johnson says the officer attempted to thrust his door open but the door slammed into Brown and bounced closed. Johnson says the officer, with his left hand, grabbed Brown by the neck”) sounds another, more “unarmed black teenager in community of white police officers” type of way.

Dorian Johnson, the eyewitness quoted in the last account, has not been interviewed by police.

All witnesses say Brown had his hands up at time of shooting; the as-yet-unnamed police officer, who is still getting paid, has claimed the teenager was assaulting him. The chief of the St. Louis County Police Force “ask[s] the public to be reasonable” in this difficult time. The police, in the meantime, are dealing with looting and considerable unrest, but all accounts point to them not being reasonable. Some images from reporters on Twitter, before they were asked to leave the scene:

Officers stand in a mist of tear gas. Protected by masks. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/YS2IMxagEG — FOX2now (@FOX2now) August 12, 2014

Riot police point a gun into a yard pic.twitter.com/BIl5cTOLGJ

— FOX2now (@FOX2now) August 12, 2014

All of these people would like to go home. Police blocking exit out of neighborhood. #ferguson pic.twitter.com/voM9Oy57U5

— Julie Bosman (@juliebosman) August 12, 2014

Tear gas being deployed in #Ferguson near the QT to disperse crowds. Reports of rubber bullets fired by police https://t.co/XHX8eqabZv — FOX2now (@FOX2now) August 12, 2014

Steve Walsh, 26, who says he was shot in the neck with a “wooden pellet” by police in Ferguson tonight pic.twitter.com/weMaHrglxR

— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) August 12, 2014

A line of police cars with high beams on greats anyone trying to enter #Ferguson. It’s shut down. No media allowed. pic.twitter.com/pPE2m4G0UQ

— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) August 12, 2014

#Ferguson police ordering people to go home, people mad say they can’t because blocked by cops pic.twitter.com/iGgny72ChS — David Carson (@PDPJ) August 12, 2014