Outgoing Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Sunday that President Obama probably wants to visit Ferguson, Missouri, and comfort the family of Michael Brown — the unarmed black teenager shot by a white police officer in August — but his hands are tied because the Justice Department is steeped in a civil rights probe of the incident.
“I think the reason it’s a quandary is because the federal government is investigating right now, and you don’t want to appear to influence that investigation,” Mr. Patrick told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Pressure is on Mr. Obama to visit the city outside St. Louis and calm tensions after a grand jury decided not to indict Mr. Wilson, who said he shot Brown because he feared for his life.
But Mr. Obama is in a “tough place,” because while he represents all Americans and their viewpoints, he faces high expectations as the first black president.
Mr. Patrick said he once visited a crime scene after he was called out by the mother of a victim killed in gang violence in Boston. She did not call out the white mayor, however.
“The expectations of me, by virtue of being a black elected official, were different,” the governor said. “And I had to learn that. And ultimately, I did go out.”
On Ferguson, Mr. Patrick said he was disappointed by the results of the local probe.
“Without knowing all the facts, of course I want to see an indictment, mostly because I think a trial and the transparency of a trial would be good for the community and because so many of us have the supposition that police officers are not going to be held accountable, are not going to have to answer for the shooting of unarmed young black teenagers,” Mr. Patrick said. “But the facts and the process, as the president says, does have to be respected.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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