Pregnant Ferguson woman shot in eye after police shoot her car with bean bag
Pregnant Ferguson woman shot in eye after police shoot her car with bean bag
A pregnant woman is now blind in her left eye after being hit by glass that shattered when police in Ferguson, Missouri, tackling Michael Brown protesters, shot at the window of the car she was in.
Dornella Conner says she was at a gas station in the St Louis suburb in a car being driven by her boyfriend when an officer fired a non-lethal ‘bean bag’ round at them as they tried to drive away, showering her with glass.
Conner has lost sight in her left eye and has blurry vision in the other following the incident on Tuesday at New Halls Ferry Road.
Police, who were responding to reports of gunshots in the area, said that the officer fired at the car because it was being driven towards him and he feared for his safety – but Conner claims that he had no need to use a weapon on them.
She told Kmov.com: ‘I didn’t have any weapons, I wasn’t looting or anything. I was just out with my boyfriend. We was just riding around respecting Mike Brown.’
Conner told the news channel that several police vehicles had blocked their exit from the gas station ‘from the side and the back’.
Conner’s father, Donnell, said he was ‘very disappointed at police tactics’. He added: ‘There was no reason to fire upon an innocent person who was sitting in a vehicle.’
Her sister, who goes by the name Tikal Goldie, said: ‘I really just want to have closure and justice for my sister.’
Meanwhile, dozens of people have interrupted holiday shopping at major retail stores around the St. Louis area to speak out about a grand jury’s decision not to indict the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown.
The protests began Thanksgiving night and continued early Friday. Protesters spent a few minutes at each store, shouting inside as law enforcement stood watch. There was no immediate word of any arrests.
According to Johnetta Elzie, who had been tweeting and posting videos of the protests, demonstrations occurred at a Wal-Mart and Target in Brentwood, two Wal-Marts in St. Charles and one Wal-Mart in Manchester.
In Ferguson, where Brown was shot on August 9, it was a quiet holiday night. There were no visible protests as the National Guard patrolled the area.
Earlier thousands of Walmart employees threatened to walk out from stores across the country on the biggest shopping day of the year.
Days after a grand jury decided not to charge officer Darren Wilson, demonstrators have led a campaign not to visit stores the day after Thanksgiving.
The group has used hashtags on social media such as #HandsUpDon’tSpend, in reference to the death of the teen in August, and #BlackOutBlackFriday.
Some demonstrators showed up outside Macy’s in New York as crowds gathered to get an early jump on the sales.
Others in Ferguson walked through a Target store with their hands up, as unrest continued followed the controversial decision earlier this week.
