Im still trying to process the events that unfolded in Ferguson tonight. I had just finished interviewing a woman about the peaceful protest this evening, we send the video back to the station and were setting up to go live. Then everyone started walking down the street. I assumed the peaceful protest would turn into a peaceful march. But as I walked along the street and prepared to go live I heard this in my ear (from my producer): Lauren the chopper over the scene has video of a crowd of people turning over a police car. It looks like they started it on fire. Where? Im walking with people now. Its very calm. City Hall. Thats...wow thats a block away. As I looked up I saw smoke and flames. Hundreds of people were running towards it. It was 9:56 pm. When we got closer to the scene we were set and ready to go LIVE. Until someone pulled up behind us, got on the roof of their car and reached for what looked like a gun. All the while, 20 plus squad cars were responding. Sirens were loud, people were throwing rocks, bottles and whatever else. We ran across the street and stood near a bus stop. I went live in the chaos by accident because it happened so fast. I repeated we are safe. Over and over again. My voice even cracked in air when I realized we were safe. A few minutes later police fired smoke bombs into the crowd. That made things calm down. We did a second live shot. This time much more calm. Shortly agree that we got wind, literally, of the smoke bombs and started coughing. It was a very intense 30 minutes. But we got to leave. We got to head back to a warm hotel. Ferguson stayed up late, police tried to get the crowds under control. And I was reminded how quickly something calm can become chaotic. Ferguson needs our prayers.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 06:29:57 +0000
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