Ferguson officials have announced that an officer has been placed on unpaid leave and is facing other disciplinary action after describing a Michael Brown memorial as a “pile of trash” in an interview with the Washington Post reports CNN.
The memorial on Canfield Drive sprung up in honor of 18-year-old Brown after he was shot dead by Officer Darren Wilson on August 9. His death and the officers lack of indictment has sparked protests in Ferguson and nationwide. Late Thursday or early Friday morning someone drove over the memorial, destroying it. A call-to-action quickly spread on Social Media and the memorial was cleaned up and rebuilt by morning.
Officer Timothy Zoll, who happens to be the Ferguson Police Department’s public relations officer was asked about the incident by Jose A DelReal, he was unconcerned to say the least.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Timothy Zoll” author_title=”Ferguson Police Department’s public relations officer”]
I don’t know that a crime has occurred, But a pile of trash in the middle of the street? The Washington Post is making a call over this?
[/quote]
Zoll later said he was misquoted and had said that maybe the memorial had been destroyed by someone unfamiliar with the area who thought it was a pile of trash. However the city released a statement on Saturday and said the officer admitted to having said the original quote reported by The Washington Post and also admitted to misleading the department when he was questioned.
