In this image from video, the parents of Michael Brown, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., speak at a news conference with civil rights leaders at the National Press Club on Sept. 25 in Washington. D.C. (Associated Press)
Police in Ferguson, Mo., are investigating a fight between members of the family of Michael Brown which allegedly erupted over the sale of merchandise last month.
Pearlie Gordon, Michael Brown Sr.’s mother-in-law, told police that she was selling “Justice for Mike Brown” items in a parking lot Oct. 18 when a group of about 20 to 30 people rushed toward her, according to an incident report. Gordon said that Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, told her that she couldn’t sell the merchandise.
Gordon then told McSpadden that “unless McSpadden could produce documentation stating she had a patent on her son’s name, she (Gordon) was going to continue to sell her merchandise,” the report states.
That’s when McSpadden’s mother started to rip down items from the booth. Gordon told police she was hit on the head and knocked to the ground. She said McSpadden punched her during the incident, in which more than $1,500 in merchandise and at least $400 in cash was stolen.
A witness watched the fight and recorded it, but didn’t immediately provide the police department with the video, according to the report.
A woman who answered a phone number listed for Gordon declined to comment. Lynne Perkins, a lawyer for McSpadden, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that her client “denies that she assaulted anyone.”
Ferguson police spokesman Tim Zoll said that no other departments were involved in the case.
“It took place in Ferguson,” he said. “It wasn’t a part of the protests, it was part of people selling things.”
Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in August. His killing was followed by a string of protests in the St. Louis suburb, and the response from law enforcement was heavily criticized. A grand jury is discussing the case, and local officials and activists are preparing for its decision.
McSpadden asked police not to release the incident report, the Post-Dispatch reported, but a judge ruled that it was a public record.
