It is the top of the hour. This is our breaking news. Hours of protests in st. Louis after an exofficer is found not guilty in the shooting death of a black man. This is cnn tonight. Just want to get you out now live. Protests are beginning to break up after a judge found a former Police Officer, Jason Stockly, not guilty of first degree murder in the 2011 shooting death of a 24yearold black man Anthony Lamar smith. He shot and killed smith after a police chase over a suspected drug steel. Stockly said he acted in selfdefense and believed smith was reaching for a gun in his car. The shooting was captured on Police Dash Cam as well as an internal video camera and cell phone video. Again, our breaking news this evening on cnn, protesters are out in the streets of st. Louis tonight. The situation has been tense all evening after a judge acquitted a former Police Officer of fist degree murder in the shooting death of a black man. Ryan young has been out among the protesters all evening. He joins us now. Ryan, it appears be to different than when we saw you last. Completely different. Look, we started this around 11 30 this afternoon. They were down by city hall originally. Then we could hear the group talking about making a move into a community. They wanted to come to the suburbs. Well, when you look at this, don, you can see thats exactly what they wanted to do and they cheated that mission. If you look down that way, thats where the rest of those officers right now. They want this street closed so theyre flashing the light back this direction, telling people they cannot pass. They have buses and they are ready to load their officers back up once they deem this neighborhood safe again. I want to Say Something that was kind of interesting because you had the mayor who actually tweeted out that he was not in agreens with this decision, but despite that, protesters marched to his house right down the street here. We were marching with them, not realizing where we were going. We got in front of his house. They were obviously demanding for someone to come out. Someone started throwing something in the window. We were all shocked at that point because up until then it had remained peaceful. Even though they were carrying firearms, some of them, there was no back and forth with people as they walked through the streets. There were people at some of the restaurants handing water to the protesters as they walked by. People coming off their porch kind of celebrating them as they walked. When we walked by the hospital, don, and an ambulance was coming accident people who were protesting got out of the way of that ambulance and allowed it to come through. So you saw am so humidianity on both sides there. The place stayed back on most of the evening but when we got to this street and this neighborhood and when that rock went through that window, everything changed. The police gathered themselves together and they starred saying move back move back move back. And then we saw some of that group of protesters decide they were going to continue to taunt these officers. And we saw the professionalism on their side in terms of allowing that gas to sort of seep out at first and that kind of punched some of the people back. They decided they didnt want to deal with that. There were other people who decided they wanted to try to throw that back towards the officers. That et cetera when they allowed a little more gas to come out. And at that point we were all choking so we were trying to get away. It took about a halfhour for those people to get away and walk away from the situation. Weve seen undercover Police Officers returning to the scene because weve seen them walking amongst us. This neighborhood and the people who have been preparing for this for quite sometime. Weve seen them put boards up against windows, getting ready for this decision. I dont think people thought it was going to end as violent as it did. It kind of put a black eye on something that was very peaceful for most of the evening. All right. Thank you very much. I want to get to dan simon in it st. Louis for us. Dan, last time we checked with you you were on the other side of where ryan is. Whats happening now . Whats the situation . Reporter well, hey, don. Just a few protesters left on the street, but i can tell you theres still a whole lot of comes here. And people may be leaving, but i can guarantee you that police will be out here throughout the night making sure that things dont further get out of control. They seem to have done an effective job in getting the crowd to disperse, but you can see theyre still in full riot gearment theyre continuing to push whatever is left of the protesters down the street. Skpl i tell you what, we did see a lot of tension earlier today and tonight, and as i said before, its unsettling when you see protesters, especially the guys wearing the masks, and when you see them armed, it gets your attention. And im sure police are very weary of those folks, but the bottom line is while we did see some vandalism tonight, we did see Police Deploy their pepper spray, if that is the extent of it, i think the folks at city hall will be pretty pleased with that. We havent seen any fires. We havent seen a lot of vandalism other than to the mayors house. We did see some folks burn some american flags. But as of right now i think you have to hand it to police. Theyve done a pretty good job thus far keeping this crowd under control at least to some extent, don. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Want to bring back areva, welcome to the panel. First of all, lets talk about whats happening out on the streets, the protesters announced this whole situation seems to be sim measuring down. Just your assessment of whats happening on the street . Well, don, ive been in contact as you know im from st. Louis. This is my community, this is my hometown. So ive been in contact with relatives and friends throughout the week as they were bracing for this verdict. So ive been getting Text Messages all day as these protests were taking place. And i was hearing just what your reporters are saying which is essentially that these are very organized and very peaceful protests. But, look, this is a community thats very angry. This is happening on the heels of the Michael Brown shooting case and the whole ferguson incident is very fresh in the minds and in the hearts of people that live in st. Louis, and they did not expect for a judge to find that this officer was not guilty. And more importantly, some of the comments that were made in his order. And i know your earlier program, some of your commentators talked about it, but that comment that the judge made about urban heroin dealers, that it would be an anomaly that they wouldnt have a gun or that an urban heroin dealer wouldnt have a gun. We know that the word urban is code for black, code for africanamerican. And when the residents heard that comment, i think it just added salt to the wounds. And this community is asking when, when ever will a white officer that shoots and kills an africanamerican be held accountable. And just a hot of frustration tonight. Just as a point of fact, your thoughts are your thoughts, but as i heard some people discussing this, i mean, we have a heroin epidemic thats happening in this country across the board in all backgrounds, in all neighborhoods, in all economic ratios. Heroin is not just an urban problem. Heroin is an american problem at this point. Jeff, i want to go to you and i want to talk to you about the reports youre getting prosecute your sources tonight as we watch the situation unfold in st. Louis. What are you hearing . Yeah. Two officers on the way to the hospital. One hit in the head with a brick. The other fell and dislocated his shoulder trying to aid the other officer, as i understand it. Im hearing that these protests are not over but are moving, don. I heard theyre moving north up euclid and there was still a lot of Property Damage occurring. We played whackamole all day with these protests with them being in various places downtown and then now in various neighborhoods in the central west end. So im not certain this is over, and i hope it is. I hope people are going home, but im worried that its not over. Can you see our air, neal . I mean, im sorry, jeff . Jeff, can you see i dont have a monitor. I live right on this corner which is interesting because this is strauss its right on the corner. Its right near the hospital and its right in the central west end. And this is a very sort of hip neighborhood, youngish. Right. That has been revital iced at least within the last ten years or more since ive lived in st. Louis. And this is where the young folks go beside here, you know, maybe downtown a little bit further on a friday and saturday evening. And if you go a little bit behind where you see straufs is there towards the south, the neighborhood starts to change a little bit. And if you go north, youre getting into, you know, a different situation closer to the interstates there. But i have to tell you, jeff, if they were going to cordon off protesters, this is kind of a good place to do it because theyve got the park in the middle and it sort of lends itself to doing that. Yeah. Its a very trendy neighborhood. It is sort of boxed in by the park and then theres several hospitals on that main drag there that take up a big footprint. But, you know, what we saw in ferguson, don, you remember this very well, those late evening protests that turned violent, the agitators in the crowd would sort of disappear into a neighborhood and reemerge kind of out flank the police, kind of use the cover of darkness to pop off shots or to throw bricks. Im getting reports just a few seconds ago theyre now throwing lit road flares at the police. So while there was plenty of people, hundreds of people today that protested peacefully, what we have now is more reminiscent of ferguson and is volatile and hopefully the cops will continue to do a great job theyre doing to attach that down. And listen, you have your sources. Were not thats not cnns reporting. Again, thats what jeff is hearing. We have not seen that. Weve not witnessed it and have not been able to verify it. But stand by. I want to bring in david who is a cnn political commentator. Today, david, the Justice Department as we watched these pictures announced that it is significantly scaling back a program created during the Barak Obama Administration to help Reform Police departments. The program is voluntary. What can you tell us . Wouldnt Police Departments, i would think, and maybe im wrong, want to voluntarily figure out how they can make their relationships with the Community Better . Yeah, don. A couple things. First of all, when weve seen all the incidents of Police Violence and police not being found guilty in cases where there has been Police Violence, whether youre talking about samuel did he bossy in cincinnati, walter scott in north charleston, where youre talking the case were talking about tonight, whether youre talking about eric garner in new york city, the list goes on and on, you would think that there would at least be consensus around the idea that the Justice Department and Police Departments around the country should work closer hand in hand, as was the case with this program under the Obama Administration to try to find solutions that havent been found yet to this problem. I want to Say Something about the Trump Administration. Its about a year ago that President Trump gave his law and order speech, don, in wisconsin. Then a little later he gave his speech to africanamerican voters in gatesburg. In both of those speeches he talked about getting tough on crime and being a law and order president. He also talked about being a president who was going to apply the law equally. What weve seen with the Justice Department is that under attorney general sessions has been the reenstatement of civil asset forfeiture, sort of a reinflation of the war on drugs, a push for increased sentencing and now today the announcement that theyre going to get rid of this cops program, cops is the acronym. A lot of people are asking tonight, myself included, is this what they have in mind when they say that theyre going to have a law and Order Administration that applies justice across the board . Its not clear at all. Mike shils is here. Hes a cnn political commentator. Mike, why would the Justice Department make this move given so many incidents weve seen seeing across the country . Well, look, i think that the Trump Administration did run on being a Law Enforcement or law and Order Administration, a law and order president. And i think that there are a great number of americans that are very, very concerned about how the police are being treated when theyre watching people throw things at the police and the police are being attacked when you have nonpeaceful protests. And im reflecting thats what the voters think. I think that its obviously i much, much deeper issue than that and the unrest thats happening in st. Louis and cities across the country as these trials move forward are something that i think we have to have a much Larger National dialogue on and why people believe that theyre being treated unfairly. But one of the responses to what you see is a backlash from Many Americans that worry that police are being targeted, assassinated and the vast voter of police they believe are the kinds of police they saw in houston that were rescuing them and taking care of them. And thats what their vision of what Law Enforcement officers are. And thats reflected of what trump ran for office that we need to protect Law Enforcement officers. Like i said, theres a much deeper issue than just looking at it very simply that way. Go ahead. My concern is that when an agency is identified as having problems with the way theyre policing, from back a few years ago, back ten years ago, what we would do is doj would involve themselves with that agency in whats called a Consent Decree or consent agreement to work with them. And that was a way to try and fix identified and undenial problems that exist in certain Law Enforcement agencies. We know it existed in ferguson, for example, because once we look at ferguson, because of what happened with mike brown, then all of a sudden we sort of uncovered the onion leaves and realized how difficult or how skewed low they were in the minority population in Law Enforcement. Once doj had in the past identified those problem plimts, then come in and help. What Jeff Sessions said several months ago and what was identified again by doj today was that theyre going to go hands off on local Law Enforcement even if they have problems. That is problematic. I agree that most cops are great cops and i would never want to be a cop to put my life on the line every day the way they do. But when we identify problem Police Departments, we have to have a federal oversight or federal overview of what theyre doing. And doj is now saying hands off, take care of it yourself. And that is going to denigrate the interaction between Law Enforcement agencies and communities because were not going to fix them with any type of federal oversight even when they need it. All right. Wait stand by. Ive got to get to the break. Youll be able to do it on the other side. Well be back with our breaking news. Theres a whole world out there and no other card lets you experience it like the platinum card. Backed by the service and security of american express. You dont let anything lkeep you sidelined. Come on thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. Ensure, always be you. When youre clocking out. Sensing your every move and automatically adjusting to help you stay effortlessly comfortable. There. I can also help with this. Does your bed do that . Oh. I dont actually talk. Though im smart enough to. Im the new sleep number 360 smart bed. Lets meet at a sleep number store. Whats going on . Oh hey thats it . Yeah. Everybody two seconds dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance. Through the Tuition Assistance program, every day mcdonalds helps more people go to college. Its part of our commitment to being americas best first job. Sfx tmobile mnemonic sfx netflix mnemonic sfx tmobile mnemonic sfx netflix mnemonic sfx tmobile mnemonic sfx netflix mnemonic tmobiles unlimited now includes netflix on us. Thats right, netflix on us. Get four unlimited lines for just forty bucks each. Taxes and fees included. And now, netflix included. So go ahead, binge on us. Another reason why tmobile is americas best unlimited network. Were back now with our live breaking news. Its happening in st. Louis. Protests there marched by violence tonight. St. Louis Police Department tweeting a total of three of our officers have been injured within the last hour. Two transported, one refused treatment. The mayor of st. Louis, lie da crew son tweeting this in response. Officers injured, on way to hospital. Violence is unacceptable. The former officer who was found not guilty in the Fatal Shooting of thoen lamar smith is speaking out tonight as well. To the st. Louis postd