McSpadden
Daily Mail UK: Michael Brown’s mother has been named as one of the ‘attackers’ who assaulted and robbed vendors selling t-shirts commemorating the youngster’s death. A report from Ferguson police identified Lesley McSpadden, 34, as one of a group of up to 30 people that ran into the tent and ransacked a stall in the Missouri city.
Pearlie Gordon, 54, Brown’s mother-in-law, and two men were selling ‘Justice for Mike Brown’ merchandise when the subjects ‘jumped out of vehicles and rushed them.’ According to the document obtained by the Smoking Gun, Gordon told police that McSpadden approached her and said, ‘You can’t sell this s****.’
In response, Gordon reiterated that she was Michael’s mother-in-law and said that unless McSpadden had a patent with her son’s name on it, she would continue to sell the merchandise.
Then McSpadden’s mother, Desureia Harris, began to rip down t-shirts hanging on a line, Gordon told officers. While doing it she said: ‘You don’t know my grandson like that.’
Then other members of the group joined in and also began ‘tearing her booth apart.’ Gordon told the authorities that she was repeatedly struck in the head and knocked to the ground.
More than $1500 in merchandise and $400 in cash ‘was stolen by unknown subjects’ who managed to escape before police arrived. A witness who saw the alleged assault while waiting at a red signal said that she saw subjects ‘punching’ the t-shirt vendors.
The investigation into the incident – which has been classed as an armed robbery – is ongoing.
Two days ago it was announced that McSpadden and the slain youngster’s father Michael Brown Senior would be speaking at a human rights conference in Switzerland. They are scheduled to address the 53rd Session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva on November 12 and 13.
With the help of a Saint Louis University law professor, they have set up an online page, dubbed ‘Ferguson To Geneva’, on which they are collecting donations for their travel expenses.
It comes nearly 14 weeks after the pair’s 18-year-old unarmed son, who is black, was gunned down by white officer, Darren Wilson, in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson. The shooting on August 9 triggered a national debate on race relations and months of violent demonstrations, with many protesters claiming the teenager was shot because he was black.
Police have said Brown, who was 6ft 4ins and 300lbs, was killed in a scuffle after Wilson told the teenager and his friend to move out of the street and onto a sidewalk. They claim the victim was trying to go for Wilson’s gun; however, witnesses, including the friend, told the press that Brown had his hands up and was surrendering when he was gunned down.
Brown Sr and McSpadden, who have campaigned since their son’s death, will leave for Geneva on November 10, the family’s attorney, Anthony Gray, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Looks like violence runs in the family.
DCG