ST. LOUIS (AP) – Some of Missouri’s top leaders tried unsuccessfully to pressure Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson to resign after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, interviews with several elected officials and newly released records show.
Ferguson Mayor James Knowles III told The Associated Press on Friday that top state officials had several meetings where they applied pressure on the city to force Jackson to resign. Missouri House Speaker John Diehl and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill confirmed they both attended a fall meeting to discuss whether Jackson should be forced out.
Also, records provided to AP under an open records request include a Nov. 10 email from St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar to an assistant that describes an apparent meeting of state and local officials. It references the potential timing of Jackson’s “separation” and identifies a potential successor.
Brown, 18 and unarmed, was shot by officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, and the shooting of a black suspect by a white officer led to significant unrest in St. Louis County.
Jackson’s leadership drew wide criticism from the outset, both for the aggressive police response to protesters and for his agency’s erratic and infrequent releases of key information. He refused to publicly identify Wilson as the shooter for nearly a week after Brown’s death, then simultaneously released the name with store security video that police said showed Brown stealing a box of cigars and shoving a clerk a short time before his death.