Unruly Man Arrested After Detroit Police Shooting Cited Ferguson, Missouri Incident
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Police say a man referencing the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, was arrested as a crowd gathered on Detroit's east side following a police shooting.
Sgt. Michael Woody said Thursday that the man was pepper-sprayed as he crossed a police line Wednesday evening and made "contact" with an officer.
Woody says the man was "citing the issues in Ferguson." Dozens of protesters have been arrested in that city as rioting followed 18-year-old Michael Brown's shooting death Saturday.
The crowd gathered in Detroit when officers shot a man in the shoulder following an illegal gun deal and car chase. Woody said a suspect in the illegal gun case tried to run down police. Two men were arrested as part of that case.
Among those talking about the Ferguson case Thursday was U.S. Congressman John Conyers (MI-13), who says "serious and sweeping civil rights violations" may have taken place in the small, Missouri town that's "under what is essentially martial law."
"Tear gas and rubber bullets are being used against everyday citizens," Conyers said, in statement, adding that Brown's "tragic killing" and events since the shooting "are reminiscent of the violent altercations that took place during the Civil Rights Movement."
"Countless African Americans endured unwarranted hostility and excessive force from law enforcement while exercising their right to peaceful assembly and civil resistance," Conyers said.
"It is a great travesty to find ourselves again witnessing the blatant violation of our right to peaceably assemble in Ferguson. As documented by journalists and people on the ground in Ferguson over the last week, state and local law enforcement have grossly mismanaged any attempts to peaceably resolve the situation."
Earlier this week, Conyers said, he and his colleagues sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to consider expanding the scope of federal involvement and to investigate the legal and civil rights ramifications of the shooting and surrounding circumstances, adding that such an investigation would be an important step to restoring peace.
[Get the latest on the Ferguson case on our sister site, CBS St. Louis].
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