Crime & Safety
Gov. Patrick: 'I'm Sick of Unarmed Black Men Being Shot by Police'
Patrick made his first comments regarding the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. earlier this month.
Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday issued his first public comments on the chaos in Ferguson—the Missouri city engulfed in riots and protests after an unarmed black teenager was fatally shot by police earlier this month.
“I’m sick of unarmed black men being shot by police,” Patrick told the Boston Herald. “We have a great challenge in this country acknowledging the extraordinary progress we have made on race relations ... And at the same time, acknowledging how much remains to be done.”
Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot to death Aug. 9. Police said he was involved in a robbery and assaulted an officer before the shooting. An attorney for Brown’s family said the teenager was trying to surrender.
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Ferguson is suburban city of about 21,000 residents, most of them black.
Patrick, who was elected as the first black governor of Massachusetts, has worked as a civil rights lawyer.
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