Ferguson is a city holding its breath as it waits for the other shoe to drop.  The protesters have mostly moved on from West Florissant Avenue, where in August nightly battles with a police force that looked as if it were dressed for war were televised across the US. But the beauty salon, barbecue joint and Chinese restaurant are still boarded up, even if large spray painted letters – “We’re Open!” – make it clear they are still in business.  They are likely to stay that way as their owners anxiously await the next milestone of the Michael Brown tragedy.  Many people in Ferguson expect that the grand jury considering whether to indict a police officer, Darren Wilson, for killing Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed African American, will let him go. But no one is quite sure how that will be received on the streets.  “I think there’ll be a bunch of trouble if something right don’t happen,” said René Jones, who lives in an apartment opposite the makeshift memorial to Brown, of tributes, candles, signs and stuffed toys, that has grown up on the spot in the street where he died. “There’s nothing that’s going to convince people around here that it’s not the system protecting its own if Wilson walks free.”  Across the road, Norma Webb was leaning over a balcony.  “The justice system isn’t doing its part,” she said. “They need to indict Darren Wilson. That’s what’s got everyone enraged. They are ducking and diving. We want justice. Even though he’s a cop he should be treated the same as everybody else.”  The man next to her, who give his name as Big Woody, interjected.  “It’s going to get real ugly if they don’t indict him,” he said.  “I pray to god this is settled in a human manner,” she said.  Among the city’s white residents, the mood is no less concerned.  “I know there are citizens worried about it,” said Brian Fletcher, a former mayor. “At least we will know when the verdict is coming. We’ll be prepared.”  The problem is not only that many people in Ferguson, whether they have been out on the streets demonstrating or not, believe Wilson shot Brown because he was black. They say that if the officer it is not indicted it will be because the authorities have covered for him.  A report in the New York Times on Saturday said Wilson had told the authorities that he feared for his life when he shot Brown. The officer said there was a struggle in his police car as the teenager reached for Wilson’s gun. FBI forensic tests showed that a gun was fired twice inside the car, and that Brown’s blood was on the weapon, an interior door panel and the officer’s uniform.  But witnesses say that after Brown got out of the car he was shot several more times, even though he had his hands raised. Six bullets hit the teenager, including one to the head which killed him.  Wilson has said he stopped Brown for jaywalking. Some black residents of Ferguson have questioned how many white people get stopped for jaywalking in the city when it is a common occurrence.  Confidence in the grand jury has been undermined by repeated delays that are seen as politically motivated. It is not clear when the grand jury will announce its decision about whether Wilson will face charges but the deadline has been extended to 7 January, an unusually long time for consideration of a case of this type.  The credibility of the grand jury process has been further eroded by the refusal of the St Louis county attorney, Bob McCulloch, to recuse himself from the case, despite close family ties to the police and a history of siding with law enforcement.  Ten days ago, Brown’s parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr, appealed to Missouri’s governor, Jay Nixon, to remove McCulloch and appoint a special prosecutor. Ferguson residents told town hall meetings with the US Justice Department in recent weeks that they have no confidence in McCulloch.  Nixon has suggested that the county attorney should recuse himself but has refused to use his own powers to force him aside.  The initial concern was that McCulloch’s father was a policeman who was killed on duty by an African American man. His brother, a nephew and a cousin were police officers too, and his mother worked for the St Louis force in an administrative capacity. McCulloch wanted to be a policeman but couldn’t because cancer led to the loss of one of his legs.  Patricia Bynes, a Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson, has also pointed to McCulloch’s position on other cases of alleged police use of excessive force, particularly the shooting of two small-time drug dealers 21 times as they tried to escape a police sting, even though neither had pulled a weapon or fired a shot. McCulloch presented the case to a grand jury and when it decided no crime had been committed said he agreed with the decision.  Suspicions in Ferguson have been reinforced by a reported leak from the grand jury which suggested it was not prepared to indict Wilson. That has been interpreted by some as evidence that the county prosecutor’s office has not pursued the case vigorously enough or has slanted the ​presentation to the grand jury.  Brown’s parents have expressed concern that McCulloch has little interest in seeing Wilson charged because he is party to several prosecutions which would have to be dropped if he was. Their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, wrote to Governor Nixon saying that a recent move by McCulloch’s office putting on hold all cases – believed to be about 10 – involving Wilson “raises an issue of concern”. The letter says that because Wilson was the arresting officer and primary witness for many of the prosecution’s current cases, he “has developed a special working relationship with Mr McCulloch and his office”.  “In light of recent developments, the appointment of a special prosecutor is now necessary more than ever, both to protect the appearance of a possible conflict of interest and to ensure that no bias exists,” Crump said in the letter.  Earlier this month, McCulloch told St Louis public radio such fears were unfounded.  “We’re presenting absolutely every bit of evidence that there is,” he said. “Every witness who has anything to say about the case, whether they saw this or they saw that, they saw it from this angle or that angle; the physical evidence; the medical evidence – all of that is being presented to the grand jury, and completely.”  None of this is cutting it with Edward Brison, 32, who lives in a complex neighbouring Brown’s memorial.  “No one is going to rest until we get justice,” he said. “The authorities and police feel they can get away with it. If they think they can let Wilson go and then this will just go away, they’ve made a big mistake. People are just as angry now as they were when Mike Brown was shot.”  Confidence in the Ferguson police force, which is under federal investigation over Brown’s death, has not grown over the past two months. The police chief, Tom Jackson, sought to defuse tensions in a statement in which he spoke of the “unfortunate happenings”. He addressed Brown’s parents directly, saying he was “truly sorry” for the loss of their son and for the fact that his body lay in the street for four hours.  “You have every right to be angry and upset,” he said.  The rest of the statement was carefully crafted to acknowledge, but not accept responsibility for, the fact that African Americans feel disrespected by the Ferguson police and that protesters feel their rights were trampled when they were arrested despite, a court later found, having committed no crime.  Jackson’s credibility was badly undermined at the beginning of the crisis when he at first refused to release Wilson’s name, while his department did make public pictures of Brown allegedly robbing a corner shop. That was widely seen within Ferguson’s black community as a move to smear the victim.  René Jones said an activist group, Cop Watch, gave her a body camera to wear so she could record encounters with the police. But she said that was not so much of a problem these days, because the police were rarely to be seen on her street. Where once they cruised past at all hours, stopping and questioning innocent residents, now they only come in emergencies, she said – and then in protective numbers.  “Now when they come, they come 10 cars deep,” said Jones. “But mostly they don’t come at all and there’s a lot of crime. My place was robbed. I’m not the only one. The criminals know the cops aren’t about.”  Edward Brison said he had noticed a change in the attitude of the Ferguson police.  “They come around now smiling,” he said. “They backed off because of the problems. If we stay sticking together like we are now, I think there will be real change but it will take some time.  “Maybe the cops will think before they act and not just because they’ve got a badge.”
Following a leak suggesting officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted some residents suspect ‘the system is protecting its own’