
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) (AP File Photo)
Governor Jay Nixon (D-MO) is facing angry inquiries over his decision not to allow the Missouri National Guard to deploy and quell the
An Associated Press report on January 10 alluded to a meeting where Nixon had rejected a plan to station the National Guard in front of the
The email also made reference to a request to Gov. Jay Nixon to place the National Guard in front of
Ferguson police headquarters on the date of the grand jury announcement. "Apparently the guard will not move to the FPD per the governor," the email said.
Earlier this week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was granted access to new documents that showed the National Guard troops were not authorized to halt the violence. “Guardsmen were not authorized to shoot to protect property in
“That was never the plan, to have the Guard in
The documents show the top priority for high-level figures was to change the image of police away from “an overmilitarized response” that marred the August protests and riots.
With those intentions, Gov. Nixon ordered the Guard to “minimize external public appearance” and would not station troops in
The job of the Guard in
Missouri State Highway Patrol field operations commander, Maj. Bret Johnson told the Post-Dispatch, “We made that decision to choose life over property.”
Gov. Nixon heatedly responded to criticism of his order saying, “It was clearly not the best path forward to get into a gunfight on the street,” said Nixon. “... In the hierarchy of responsibilities, saving lives was first, behind it was saving property.”
Nixon had stated prior to the riots that “violence will not be tolerated.”