Md. police union makes donation to Darren Wilson fund
Posted: Aug 22, 2014 12:02 PM EDTUpdated: Aug 22, 2014 5:37 PM EDT
Flash
Flash
Online support for the Missouri police officer who shot and killed unarmed teenager Michael Brown is growing. The online crowd-funding site Go Fund Me has been used by supporters to collect more than $250,000 in four days for Officer Darren Wilson, and one of the biggest donations of all came from a Maryland police union.
Anne Arundel County's police chief is at odds with the union that represents his officers. Maryland FOP Lodge 70 made the third-largest donation (as of Friday afternoon) of $1,070 to
Support Officer Darren Wilson Go Fund Me account.
Chief Kevin Davis told FOX 5 he disagreed with the union's decision to make a donation because of the many unanswered questions surrounding Brown's death.
No one answered the door at the FOP lodge in Crownsville on Friday, and FOX 5 was unable to reach the president of the union. However, O'Brien Atkinson told the Baltimore Sun, "It's not about anything more than making sure that our fellow officer has due process, which sometimes is hard to come by when you have a media stir and a lot of political attention."
"I certainly embrace the necessity for due process for police officers and all citizens and, as a life member of the FOP, I know the importance of the FOP in our profession," Chief Davis said. "However, there are occasions when a police chief will agree to disagree with the FOP president. This is one of those of those moments.
FOX 5 also reached out to the Anne Arundel County Chapter of the NAACP and spoke by phone with President Jacqueline Boone Allsup. She simply said that people have the right to donate to whatever cause they choose.
Donations are still being collected, but the
location has changed online. In order for the donations to be tax deductible, the non-profit group Shield of Hope has been designated the authorized charity for donations, and the
original Go Fund Me page had to end collections.
A new page was started Friday afternoon, and by 5 p.m., more than $15,300 had been collected there. In all, that puts the total at more than $250,000 in collections from more than 6,200 donors.
According to the original Go Fund Me post, "
Support Darren Wilson" is a group made of of people who want to give others the opportunity to support Wilson, some of whom are family and friends and others who have never met him. They hope to use funds to cover Wilson's potential legal fees, relocation and living expenses for he and his family. They also have a
Facebook page that has more than 55,000 fans.
... so nice and quiet and peaceful