St Louis Alderman President: Strong-Arm Robbery 'Exact Same Thing' as Drinking and Driving

St Louis Alderman President: Strong-Arm Robbery 'Exact Same Thing' as Drinking and Driving

In an appearance on MSNBC’s “NewsNation” on Friday, Lewis Reed, president of the Board of Aldermen, argued that alleged strong-arm robbery by suspect Michael Brown was similar to a driving under the influence, and thus the treatment in the apprehension for the two crimes should have been the same.

In explaining to fill-in host Alex Witt that it will be “difficult” for Ferguson police to win the trust of the local community, he since both constituted “breaking the law,” if police had acted similarly in handling Brown as they would handle a DUI, people would be “outraged.”

“I think it’s going to be difficult. Again, take a look at what happened just this morning when the request for the officer’s name to be released they finally came forward with the name. Along with that comes I think will be viewed by a lot of people as a smear campaign on Michael Brown. If he took the cigarillos, if he indeed took the cigarillos, OK. That’s breaking the law. It’s against the law to drink and drive. and when people go to baseball games if they have two beers within the last 15 minutes and get behind the wheel and drive home, it would — people would be outraged if police officers began pull those people over, take them out of their cars and shoot them. And when you look at this, it’s the exact same thing, I think.”

Reed went say based on the focus should be on the police action and not the crime of strong-arm robber.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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