The Massachusetts Police Union blasted presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) for her misleading tweets about the death of Michael Brown, saying she unfairly accused the police of "causing our society grievous harm."
Scott Hovsepian, president of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, authored a letter criticizing Warren for misleading her followers by tweeting that Michael Brown "was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri."
5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 9, 2019
An extensive report from President Barack Obama's Department of Justice concluded that Officer Darren Wilson did not break any federal law when he shot Brown dead during an altercation.
"The Department of Justice (under President Obama) found that there was no criminal intent on Officer Wilson's part. Therefore you should stop referring to him as a murderer," the letter reads. "As a lawful professor, you may remember that murder is the UNLAWFUL killing of another. As no law was broken, there is no murder."
It accuses Warren of pandering for votes by making "incorrect and inflammatory statements":
I want to make this as clear as possible and every member of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police wants you to understand: your labeling of law enforcement as racist and violent is unacceptable and dangerous. Maybe I didn't deliver the message strongly enough the last time we spoke. YOUR POLITICAL PANDERING FOR PRESIDENTIAL VOTES IS GETTING POLICE OFFICERS AND CITIZENS HURT AND KILLED. We have told you that if you have specific issues, that we would work with you to work towards repairing those issues. Your response is to continually make incorrect and inflammatory statements that are detrimental to society as a whole.
"I can no longer stand by and watch you systematically dismantle the relationships we have developed in our communities with these types of statements," the letter concludes.
Re-tweet this letter to your local media and to @ewarren. Let her know that we are tired of her political pandering and expect someone in her position to choose her words more carefully. Blanket statements vilifying law enforcement are dangerous to our communities. pic.twitter.com/Ljdx9wUZYb
— Masscop (@MassCOPUnion) August 13, 2019
Warren was not the only Democratic presidential candidate to tweet misleadingly about Brown's death. Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Cal.) also referred to the death as a "murder," while several other candidates implicated police officers in wrongdoing.