_{Lawsuit Settled Involving Ferguson Officer Who Allegedly Choked, Hog-Tied A 12-Year-Old}

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A lawsuit against a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who allegedly choked and hog-tied a 12-year-old boy in 2010 has been settled on undisclosed terms, court filings show.

The 2012 lawsuit alleged that Ferguson Police Officer Justin Cosma, who was then serving as a police officer in Jefferson County, Missouri, and his then-colleague Richard Carter approached the shirtless 12-year-old as the boy was checking his mailbox at the end of his driveway.

"Unprovoked and without cause, the deputies grabbed [the boy], choked him around the neck and threw him to the ground," the lawsuit, which was filed by the victim's family, said. The officers allegedly then hog tied the young boy, which means they restrained him by tying his hands to his feet. The child, according to the lawsuit, "suffered bruising, choke marks, scrapes and cuts across his body" due to his treatment by the officers, and had to be "transported to a medical facility for medical treatment."

The suit alleged that the force used by Cosma and his colleague was "unreasonable and excessive" and that the young child was "unable to protect himself."

Cosma and his colleague then allegedly attempted to charge the child with "assault of a law enforcement officer third degree and resisting/interfering with arrest, detention or stop." But the suit said that prosecutors refused to take the case.

A federal judge granted a motion to dismiss the case this week after being notified of the settlement.

The lawsuit was filed shortly after Cosma joined the Ferguson Police Department in 2012. It is unclear why the officer left the larger Jefferson County Sheriff's Office to join the small police department in Ferguson.

Richard R. Lozano, a lawyer who represented the boy, did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Jason S. Retter, the attorney representing the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the two officers.

Back in August, Cosma assisted in taking this reporter into custody at a McDonald's in Ferguson as demonstrations were taking place far down the street in connection with the death of Michael Brown. In that incident, Cosma refused to identify himself or any of his colleagues from the St. Louis County Police Department, none of whom were wearing name plates.

Cosma is just one of many officers in the Ferguson Police Department whose actions have come under scrutiny. The Justice Department is currently conducting a so-called pattern or practice investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.
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_{Judge puts limits on use of tear gas in Missouri racial protests}

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A federal judge on Thursday ordered St. Louis area police to issue warnings and give crowds reasonable time disperse before firing tear gas, following complaints by activists over heavy-handed police tactics during ongoing race-related protests.

The protests erupted in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson in August after white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, an African-American who was unarmed.

U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson delivered the ruling after hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by a group of protesters against local and state police officials in Missouri.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs said children and elderly people were within the crowds when police launched tear gas without warning, boxed in demonstrators making it hard for them to leave the area, and failed to wear visible identification.

The judge did not grant all of the conditions sought by protesters, including one seeking an order that tear gas be used only as a "last resort to prevent significant threats to public safety."
The complaint filed Monday names as defendants St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, and Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson.

Police officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The six plaintiffs include a coffeehouse owner; two co-founders of an area activist organization; a legal observer; a professor from Saint Louis University; and a college student.

"This was a victory today," said lawyer Brendan Roediger, who is helping represent the plaintiffs. "At its core it accomplishes what we were asking for."

Brown's Aug. 9 death, and the lack of charges against Wilson, have prompted expanding protests over what activists say is deeply ingrained hostile treatment of African Americans by police, and an unequal justice system that does not hold police accountable.

Protests have spread to many major U.S. cities, and accelerated after a grand jury in Staten Island decided not to indict a white police officer there in the death of a 43-year-old black man suspected of illegally selling cigarettes.
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Second Graders Spend Recess Protesting Ferguson. Are They Too Young?

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The 20-odd people chanting Honk if you want justice, on a New Bedford, Massachusetts sidewalk Dec. 12 got a lot of attention. They were second graders, rallying against police for the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. While the rest of their class enjoyed 11:30 recess that morning, these 7 and 8-year-old protesters stood by the side of the road in front of the Alma Del Mar Charter School holding signs including one that read, Please dont shoot me, Ferguson.
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Police Officer Kills Armed Black Man Near Ferguson

A white policeman shot dead a black man brandishing a pistol at a suburban St. Louis gasoline station overnight, igniting violence reminiscent of riots over the police killing of an unarmed black teenager in nearby Ferguson, police said on Wednesday.

The Berkeley, Missouri, shooting happened late on Tuesday at a Mobil On The Run gasoline station, within walking distance of the Ferguson street on which a white police officer shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.

A crowd of 200 to 300 people gathered at the gasoline station after the shooting, and bricks and three fireworks were thrown, two of them at the roughly 50 officers at the scene, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said.

Two officers were injured. Four people were arrested and charged with assault, Belmar said. Calm had returned to the area by Wednesday morning.

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_{Protesters set off explosives, throw bricks after police officer shoots, kills 18-year-old in Missouri}

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Hundreds of people gathered at a suburban St. Louis gas station early Wednesday morning after a police officer shot and killed an 18-year-old man who had been pointing a 9 mm handgun at the officer, authorities said.
Some protesters among the angry crowd of between 200 and 300 turned violent early Wednesday morning, setting off explosive devices and throwing bricks and rocks, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a press conference.

More than 50 police officers, some in riot gear, responded, and video showed officers wrestling with protesters.

Four suspects were arrested on charges of assaulting police officers at the Mobil gas station on Hanley Road in Berkeley, just miles from the site of 18-year-old Michael Browns death in Ferguson last August.

To come there armed with explosive devices is certainly something that is not safe for our community, not safe for our businesses, certainly not safe for our police officers, Belmar said.

At least two officers were taken to emergency rooms: one for lower leg injuries from one of the blasts, another for facial abrasions from a brick, according to police.

Arsonists set fire to a QuikTrip convenience store across the street, but the fire was extinguished, Belmar said.

We did not deploy tear gas. We did not deploy flashbangs. No officers down there did that, Belmar said.

Belmar said he spoke to several young people at the scene who questioned why the officer did not use a Taser or Mace pepper spray to incapacitate the suspect, rather than a firearm.

Frankly, thats unreasonable, he said. When we have someone thats pointing a gun at a police officer, theres not a lot of time. I would imagine that most of us would feel like we were in imminent danger of losing our lives at that point.

Belmar says he empathizes with the young men but believes the officer responded with commensurate force.

I understand that these young people are looking for something, but I think these young people need to understand the context of what happens down there with these kinds of situations, he said.

The department identified the 18-year-old man who died as Antonio Martin of St. Louis. Toni Martin, a woman at the chaotic scene, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it was her son.
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Belmar said the 18-year-old already had a criminal history, including armed robbery and assault charges.

The department, he said, will continue to investigate the case and present the evidence to the prosecutor's office.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon commended Berkeley police.

"The events in Berkeley are a reminder that law enforcement officers have a difficult, and often dangerous, job in protecting themselves and law-abiding citizens," Nixon said in a statement.
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Justice Department said Ready to Clear Ferguson Officer

The U.S. Justice Department is about to close the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, and clear the white police officer involved of any civil rights charges, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted law enforcement officials as saying that federal prosecutors had begun work on a legal memo recommending no civil rights charges against the officer, Darren Wilson, after an FBI investigation found no evidence to support charges against him.

The agency is still conducting a probe into the Ferguson police force. A St. Louis County grand jury decided last year not to prosecute Wilson.

The Justice Department declined comment.

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