Ferguson officer ‘fighting for his life,’ several arrested after protests marking 10 years since Michael Brown’s killing

A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer is “fighting for his life” after being assaulted during protests on Friday night

A Ferguson police officer is “fighting for his life” after being assaulted during protests on Friday night, following several days of events marking the 10-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s killing by an officer in the department. Protesters were allowed to block multiple streets near the Ferguson Police Department and the demonstrations remained peaceful for most of the evening, until some people began “violently” shaking the fence at the police station, Chief Troy Doyle said at a Saturday news conference. “We did not react. We stayed here, let them shake the fence,” said the chief. “That happened several times throughout the night up until the point that they broke the bottom portions of our fence, they destroyed property on our police department’s parking lot.” At that point, Doyle deployed his arrest team to make arrests for destruction of property. The team was assaulted by several protesters and one of the officers, identified by police as Travis Brown, suffered a severe brain injury, Doyle said. “He is at an area hospital right now, fighting for his life,” said the chief, who was visibly emotional during the news conference. As the officer was attempting to arrest someone who had broken and stolen a large portion of the station’s fence outside, the suspect charged at him “violently” with his shoulder, which knocked the officer down and caused him to suffer a head injury, Doyle said. Two other officers were injured Friday night, including one who suffered an ankle injury and another who had abrasions, Doyle said.