Michael Brown’s stepfather apologizes for comments to protesters

The stepfather of Michael Brown has issued an apology for remarks he made to a crowd in Ferguson, Mo., after a grand jury decided not to indict the police officer who fatally shot his unarmed stepson.

In a video last week, Louis Head told protesters to “Burn this [expletive] down,” after St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced that a grand jury did not find enough evidence to indict former Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson, who is white, for the shooting of Brown, a black teenager.

Head’s comments came under scrutiny on social media after dozens of businesses were burned and looted throughout Ferguson, a St. Louis suburb of about 21,000.

“I was so angry and full of raw emotions, as so many others were, and granted, I screamed out words that I shouldn’t have screamed in the heat of the moment,” he said in a statement. “It was wrong and I humbly apologize to all of those who read my pain and anger as a true desire for what I want for our community.”

Head added that “to place blame solely on me for the conditions of our community, and country, after the grand jury decision goes way too far and is as wrong as the decision itself.”

“To declare a state of emergency and send a message of war, and not peace, before a grand jury decision was announced is also wrong,” he said.

While public tension has largely diminished in Ferguson, the city’s police chief, Tom Jackson, did say police may investigate Head for the comments he made in the moments following the grand jury decision.

Jackson, speaking to Fox News on Monday, said the department is “pursuing those comments” but did not elaborate on what, if any, charges Head could face.

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