The breakdown of a tense order came quickly after the announcement was delivered by a St. Louis prosecutor. Demonstrators hurled bottles and batteries at police, who put on riot gear and ordered crowds to disperse.
Buildings burned out of control. For a time, authorities directed airplanes away from the St. Louis airport and cleared the sky over Ferguson.
In Ferguson, police reported 61 arrests, including for burglary, trespassing and unlawful assembly. Officers used tear gas, but Belmar said that they had fired no shots.
“As far as I know, we didn’t cause any serious injuries,” he said. “I didn’t see a lot of peaceful protest tonight, and I’m disappointed about that.”
The violence came despite pleas from authorities in Missouri, the Brown family and President Barack Obama, who encouraged calm in a speech from the White House that was televised side-by-side with pictures of police clashing with demonstrators in Ferguson.
Protests broke out across the country. Hundreds blocked traffic on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in New York. A crowd of 500 shut down an interstate in Oakland, California. Police said people threw fireworks at officers in Seattle.
Grand jury records were released after the decision was announced, including Wilson’s interview with police detectives on the day after the shooting.
He claimed Michael Brown taunted and assaulted him, and said that the teenager was so menacing, the officer “felt like a 5-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan.” The officer said he was thinking: “How do I live through this, basically?”