Ferguson police release body camera footage showing protester knocking officer to sidewalk WPXI [Video]

FERGUSON, Mo. — (AP) — Ferguson police on Tuesday released officer-worn body camera footage showing a protester knocking a Black police officer to the ground on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death, leaving the Missouri officer with a life-threatening brain injury.

Police Chief Troy Doyle, speaking at a news conference, said the body camera footage shows that the suspect, 28-year-old Elijah Gantt of East St. Louis, Illinois, had charged at Officer Travis Brown on a sidewalk outside the police station after protesters attempted to pull down a perimeter fence.

Video played at the news conference from two different angles shows that a man, identified by Doyle as Gantt, had a running start and flattened the officer, whose head violently struck the pavement. Officer Brown was unconscious and prone on his back with the suspect lying on this chest as other officers quickly arrived and jumped on the suspect.

Many of the 150 or so people at the news conference — including at least three …