<i>Picture – Left – Judge Timothy Wilson – Right – Stones and bottles were thrown at police during protest </i>
St Louis seems to be burning with angry young men because of a ruling made by a judge in a shooting case. A ruling of a white judge in the case of a white man shooting a black man. Or you could just leave out the colour and say a judge ruled in the case of a police officer shooting a man after a high-speed chase. Both sentences contain facts. It simply depends on which facts you want the public to react.
Though we can understand anger and frustration being bottled for a long time and explode whenever something like this hits the news, we must ask for restraint and a proper consideration of the legal facts which have happened in the past hours.
Here are some of the facts.
First off, the judge, St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson, has in the past ruled both for and against the police during his so far 28-year long career as a judge. If he would have only ruled for the police, protestors might have a point in blaming him, but given that the public administrator has a career span well over two decades, we must point out that restraint and thought should be used before jumping to conclusions and wanting to wreck the career of someone over 1 judgment which you don’t agree with.
Mr. Wilson wrote in his opinion, and please pay attention to this detail, that he wasn't "firmly convinced" Jason Stockley was guilty. Not firmly convinced. That is all, the existence of reasonable doubt.
Secondly, the St Louis Police, of course, has to maintain order whilst a protest, which turned violent at certain points, is going on. On Friday afternoon they released a picture of the bottles and rocks that have been thrown at them during this protest.
So far 9 officers have been injured during protests and the mayor’s home has been damaged.
These are facts, and they are indisputable.
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