Timeline of events after the death of Michael Brown
Aug. 9, 2014
Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, is shot to death by a white police officer in a confrontation in Ferguson.
Aug. 10-24, 2014
Protesters gather peacefully during the day on Aug. 10. That night, after a candlelight vigil, police and protesters square off along West Florissant Avenue. Simmering tensions explode into weeks of protests that turned violent at times. Some businesses were looted, and a QuikTrip was burned. Police made many arrests, including of journalists, and used dogs, tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray in attempts to control crowds.
Aug. 25, 2014
“Michael Brown does not want to be remembered for a riot,” the Rev. Al Sharpton tells mourners at the funeral service for Brown. “He wants to be remembered as the one that made America deal with how we police in the United States.”
Sept. 8, 2014
The Ferguson City Council announces plans to reduce court fine revenue, reform court procedures and start a Citizen Review Board to keep an eye on the police department.
Nov. 24, 2014
A grand jury announces Officer Darren Wilson will not be indicted for shooting Brown. Buildings in Ferguson and Dellwood are burned; dozens more there and on South Grand Avenue in St. Louis are damaged.
March 5, 2015
The Justice Department issues reports exonerating Wilson in the shooting of Brown and slamming Ferguson for using courts mainly to raise revenue. After the report, the city manager, police chief, municipal judge and two police officers resign and the court clerk is fired.
July 13, 2015
The Ferguson Commission, appointed by then-Gov. Jay Nixon after protests, approves nearly 150 “calls to action” for the state.
July 14, 2015
Four counts of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the parents of Brown are dismissed by a federal judge; other counts continue to proceed toward trial.
June 20, 2017
A federal judge approves a settlement in which an insurance company for the city of Ferguson agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the wrongful death suit.
July 2018
Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden-Head, calls on Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to reopen the investigation in an online petition. She claims St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch’s office presented a case to the grand jury before the police investigation was over and allowed witnesses to lie to grand jurors. She also faulted the quality of the investigation by police and prosecutors and mentioned a grand juror’s lawsuit seeking to speak about the case.
Aug. 7, 2018
Attorney Wesley Bell stuns McCulloch, winning the Democratic primary for prosecuting attorney. Bell immediately faces calls to reopen the investigation into the shooting death of Brown.
Aug. 8, 2018
Nearly four years after Brown’s death, the region is slow to implement the reforms laid out in the Ferguson Commission Report. Forward through Ferguson, the group charged with being the region’s “transition team” to help implement the reforms, announces that only five of 47 priority recommendations have been implemented.
Jan. 2, 2019
On his second day in office, Bell fires veteran assistant prosecutor Kathi Alizadeh, who was primarily responsible for presenting evidence to the grand jury that declined to indict Wilson. The county would later pay her a $25,000 settlement, back pay and legal bills.
Aug. 9, 2019
On the fifth anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, his father, Michael Brown Sr., demands that Bell reopen the investigation, saying his son was “murdered in cold blood.”
July 30, 2020
Bell’s office signals it will announce a decision on charges in the Brown killing.
Comments