Witnesses: Shots fired in Ferguson after car hits protester

Protesters hide behind cars after shots were fired Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Ferguson, Mo., during a demonstration on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they said

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FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — Gunfire broke out during a demonstration in Ferguson, Missouri, on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death, disrupting what had been a peaceful gathering Tuesday night but apparently wounding no one.

Witnesses told an Associated Press reporter that a car sped through a group of protesters who were blocking a street during the demonstration marking two years since the unarmed black 18-year-old's fatal shooting by a white police officer. They said the car struck a young man so hard that he flew into the air. As the car drove away, shots were fired, they said.

"A lady came down and hit a protester — knocked the shoes off his feet," said Sharon Cowan, who was at the scene. "Hit him, and he rolled and he bounced."

The man appeared to be badly injured and was put into a private car to be taken to a hospital, she said.

Heather De Mian, who frequently livestreams protests in the St. Louis area, said she screamed when the man was hit.

"Then when the bullets flew, I started screaming some more," she said.

Police responded to reports of gunfire but had found no evidence that anyone had been struck, said Ferguson spokesman Jeff Small, who declined to speculate about why the shots were fired.

By around 10 p.m., the protesters had disbanded.

Earlier in the day, a few hundred people gathered for a memorial service and moment of silence along Canfield Drive at the spot where Brown was fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson after a confrontation on Aug. 9, 2014.

A state grand jury declined to press charges against Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department later cleared him, concluding that he had acted in self-defense. He resigned in November 2014.

Brown's death led to months of sometimes-violent protests in Ferguson. It was also was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement, which rebukes police treatment of minorities and has grown following several other killings of black men and boys by police, such as Tamir Rice in Cleveland and Philando Castile in Minnesota.

Brown's father, also named Michael Brown, said in a brief speech during the memorial service that the anniversary was a sad day for him and his family, and for the world, too.

"My son built families up, opened the eyes of the world and let them know this ain't right," he said. "This color is not a disease. This color is beautiful. Black is beautiful."

The 2014 shooting also led to a Justice Department investigation that found patterns of racial bias in Ferguson's police and municipal court system. The federal agency and the city agreed this year to make sweeping changes.

This month, more than 60 organizations affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement released a list of six demands and 40 recommendations for how to achieve policing and criminal justice reforms.

Brandy Shields, 19, went to school with Brown and remembered him as a kid who "never got into trouble." Shields comforted a little girl who was crying at the service.

"It'll get better," Shields told the child. "We have to make it better, but it'll get better."

Judo medalist beaten up while celebrating on Copacabana Beach

Dirk Van Tichelt probably didn’t envision one of the greatest days of his life ending in the hospital. But that’s exactly where the Belgian judoka found himself Monday night hours after winning his first-ever Olympic medal.

Van Tichelt won bronze in the 73-kg judo competition on Monday. Naturally, he went off to Copacabana Beach that night to celebrate the achievement. And that’s where things went awry.

Van Tichelt was reportedly assaulted by a thief on the famous beach, and was struck in the face. He was taken to the hospital after the incident.

The thief, who was reportedly Brazilian, came away with a cellphone, but, crucially, not with a bronze medal. That allowed Van Tichelt to take this epic picture the following day:

The Belgian Olympic Committee released a statement confirming the details, and saying that Van Tichelt didn’t require treatment at the hospital. He appeared at a media event the next day with a black eye, and, undoubtedly, a smile on his face.

Van Tichelt now has more than just a medal to commemorate his Olympic success.

Derrick Rose loses motion, will face trial in civil gang-rape suit

Derick  Rose at Court

A federal judge on Wednesday denied Derrick Rose’s motion to dismiss a civil lawsuit alleging he and two other men drugged a woman, broke into her apartment and raped her, meaning the case against the New York Knicks point guard will proceed to trial.

Court documents published Friday by Daniel Werly of The White Bronco show that Rose’s motion for summary judgment in the case, filed on June 20, was denied by U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald due to substantial disagreements on the most important facts of the case between the versions forwarded by Rose and his fellow defendants — Ryan Allen, the younger brother of Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen, and Randall Hampton,“Rose’s best friend since grammar school,” identified in a December 2014 New York Times story as his manager — and the woman who first filed the civil complaint against the three defendants in Los Angeles County Superior Court last August, identified in court documents only as “Jane Doe.”

“The record presents a genuine dispute of material fact as to the central issue in this action: whether Plaintiff consented to sexual intercourse with Defendants in early morning of August 27, 2013,” Fitzgerald wrote in his judgment. “Because the jury and not the Court must resolve this central issue, summary judgment is improper. ”

In the original civil complaint, Jane Doe alleged that then-Chicago Bulls guard Rose — with whom she had allegedly had a sexual relationship from late 2011 until July 2013 — Allen and Hampton placed a drug in her drink during a night out, and that she was in an “incapacitated state of consciousness” when they allegedly “gang raped” her, according toPatrick M. O’Connell of the Chicago Tribune:

The 31-page lawsuit offers explicit details of the couple’s sexual relationship, portraying Rose as pushing the woman to engage in sexual encounters she was uncomfortable with, including with friends. That pressure, according to the lawsuit, contributed to the couple’s breakup. […]

The woman claims the sexual assault happened after the group attended a party at a home in Beverly Hills, Calif. After drinking tequila at the party, the woman alleges in the lawsuit, she left in a taxi with a friend. Rose, Hampton and Allen allegedly later drove to her home and sexually assaulted her. […]

In the weeks after August 2013, the woman, who worked as an administrator for a property management company, said she became paranoid that Rose was monitoring her phone calls, according to the lawsuit.

But the suit does say she was reluctant to report the incident for fear of retaliation and because she had been in a consensual relationship with Rose. Trauma from the alleged assault led to emotional turmoil for the woman, according to the lawsuit, and she lost her job.

Jane Doe is seeking $21.5 million in damages in the suit, which was first filed in state court and later transferred to federal court.

Rose’s attorney, Lisa Cohen, responded with a statement granting that Rose and Jane Doe had engaged “in a non-exclusive, consensual sexual relationship with the plaintiff for over two years,” but calling the gang-rape allegations “completely false and without any factual basis” and casting the case as “nothing more than a desperate attempt to shake down a highly respected and successful athlete.”

In a subsequent court filing, another attorney for Rose, Mark D. Baute, disputed the claim that the sexual contact during the incident in question was non-consensual, according toThe Associated Press:

In Baute’s filing on behalf of Rose, the 2011 NBA MVP denies the allegations and says the woman “consented to the actions she now claims were non-consensual.”

“The Plaintiff consented to sexual interaction with more than one co-defendant on more than one occasion, consented to sexual interactions on the day in question, and invited the defendants to her apartment and buzzed them in through security and opened the apartment door to welcome them, and then consented to additional group activities later that evening,” it reads.

Rose’s filing also says the woman “became upset a few weeks or months later because she felt she should be reimbursed for one of the sex toys she purchased and used during the day and night in question.” She also became upset with Rose for not being responsive enough to her text messages, according to the court document.