Injured Ferguson officer shows ‘small but significant’ signs of progress in Missouri

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who was critically injured during a protest on the 10th anniversary of Michael Brown’s death is showing “small but significant signs of progress” from a severe brain injury, according to a post on a GoFundMe page set up to support the officer and his family.

Travis Brown, 36, has undergone several surgeries and other procedures to address swelling and fluid on his brain since he was attacked on Friday, the statement said. As of Thursday morning, more than $78,000 had been donated through the GoFundMe site.

“In the past few days, we’ve witnessed a few small but significant signs of progress — three coughs, and slight movements in his leg and hand. These moments, though brief, filled us with hope and joy,” the statement read. “Today, the doctors checked TJ’s brain activity, and the results were encouraging. While we’ve been told that the road to recovery will be long and challenging, we remain hopeful.”

Hundreds of people gathered in Ferguson Friday to remember Michael Brown. As midnight approached, only a few dozen demonstrators remained, and some of them began shaking and damaging a fence outside the Missouri town’s police station, prompting Travis Brown and other officers to begin making arrests.

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Police on Tuesday released body camera and surveillance video showing one suspect, identified as 28-year-old Elijah Gantt of East St. Louis, Illinois, charging Brown on a sidewalk and knocking him backward. The video shows Brown landing hard, his head striking the pavement. Both Brown and Gantt are Black.

Separate footage from Brown’s body camera, released Wednesday, shows his shadow on the face of a building and the shadow of another person ramming into him. The camera is suddenly angled upward after Brown hits the sidewalk. An officer crouches over Brown and repeats his name, seemingly trying to get a response, as he says “officer down” into his radio and calls for emergency medical services. He yells for people to back away from the scene.

Amid shouts and screams, someone says, “He’s fallen on his head.” About a minute later, officers grab Brown’s legs and move him. There are audible screams of “Watch his head” and “Support his head.”

Someone can be heard saying, “Come on, T.J.,” followed later by, “T.J., you’re good, bud.” He’s lifted into a patrol car.

“T.J. look at me. Look at me. What day is it?” someone asks him. He does not answer. The patrol car speeds off.

Gantt is charged with assault and jailed on $500,000 bond. He does not yet have a listed attorney.

Ferguson became synonymous with the national Black Lives Matter movement after Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was killed by Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson Aug. 9, 2014, in the St. Louis suburb. Travis Brown is not related to Michael Brown.

Three separate investigations found no grounds to prosecute Wilson, who resigned in November 2014. But Michael Brown’s death led to months of often violent protests. It also spurred a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that required anti-discrimination changes to Ferguson policing and the courts.

Travis Brown is the son of a retired St. Louis city police officer and the father of two young daughters. He worked for the St. Louis County Police Department for 11 years before joining the Ferguson department in January, part of a wave of Black officers hired into the department since 2014. “He wanted to be part of the change,” Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle said.

The GoFundMe page is raising money to help pay expenses and support Brown’s children, an earlier posting states. It calls Brown “a devoted father, son, brother, uncle, godfather, and friend. A man of strong faith, his heart is as big as his smile, and his positive energy is truly contagious.”